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The showcases of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, a centuries-old U.K. institution that displays art and artefacts from most of the world’s civilizations and is considered the oldest public museum in the world, now have a new lighting system to enhance the museum’s beauty.
The Ashmolean Museum was opened in 1683 and moved to its current location in 1845. A major renovation in 2009 expanded the museum with 39 new galleries for displaying artefacts. In 2015, seeing the dramatic improvements in efficiency and lighting quality of LED light sources, the museum leadership chose to replace its existing halogen lighting. The Museum partnered with Absolute Action, a British fiber-optic and LED lighting design specialist, to find the best way to apply the new technology.
After testing and research, Absolute Action chose Soraa’s VIVID LED Optical Light Engines to incorporate within the new fiber-optic projector which they used to illuminate the museum’s priceless art and artefacts. Absolute Action said it selected Soraa’s light engines for their compatibility with the current fiber-optic system in the display cases, as well as their energy efficiency and color and whiteness rendering features.
“Our quest to find high quality color rendering and longevity led us right to Soraa,” said Emma Dawson-Tarr, managing director, Absolute Action. “With Soraa’s LED innovations, we have given the Ashmolean Museum more flexibility and control for the future.”
By employing the new Soraa LED light engines versus the previous halogen lamps, the museum expects to save nearly 75% in energy costs associated with lighting.
“The Ashmolean Museum aims to display exhibits with the most accurate color rendering and clarity possible. However, until recently, we found that this quality was only available with inefficient halogen lamps,” said Harry Phythian-Adams, executive officer at the Ashmolean Museum. “We required a more energy efficient solution to achieve our lighting goals in terms of both quality and energy efficiency.”
A short video was created to highlight the Ashmolean Museum and the results of the new Soraa LED lighting: https://youtu.be/IaFKj3KJ5Gc.