The Fitzwilliam Museum

The Fitzwilliam Museum is recognizable by the grand neoclassical portico of eight Corinthian columns that stands back from Trumpington Street behind a stone balustrade. It began as the vision of Richard, the seventh Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion, a Cambridge graduate who died in eighteen sixteen. In his will, he left his extensive personal collection of paintings, manuscripts, and rare books to the university, along with one hundred thousand pounds to build a museum repository.