Founded in 1919, the Oriental Institute is dedicated to the study of the languages, history and cultures of the ancient Near East. Its museum contains one of the world's richest collections of Near Eastern art and antiquities, displaying a multitude of exhibits from Egypt, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Israel, Nubia and Persia. The collection of ushabti - small funerary figurines that were placed in the tombs of the dead - is particularly interesting.