The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (England) was built in 1678 - 1683 to house the collection of curiosities Elias Ashmole gave Oxford University in 1677 and which he had inherited from John Tradescant. The collection included antique coins, books, engravings, geological specimens, and zoological specimens -- one of which was the stuffed body of the last dodo ever seen in Europe, but by 1755 it was so moth-eaten it was destroyed, except for its head and one claw.
After the various specimens had been moved into new museums, the "Old Ashmolean" building was used until 1935 as office space for the Oxford English Dictionary staff. It then became the "Museum of the History of Science" and was used to display the large collection of scientific instruments given to Oxford University by Lewis Evans, including the world's largest collection of astrolabes.