Sights in Oxford
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All Souls College
One of the wealthiest of Oxford's colleges and unique in not accepting any undergraduate students, All Souls College is primarily an academic research institution. It was founded in 1438 as a centre of prayer and learning, and today fellowship of the college is one of the highest academic honours in the country.
Much of the college façade dates from the 1440s and, unlike other older colleges, the front quad is largely unchanged in five centuries. It also contains a beautiful 17th-century sundial designed by Christopher Wren. Most obvious, though, are the twin mock-Gothic towers on the north quad. Designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1710, they were lambasted for ruining the …
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Christ Church College
Oxford’s 38 colleges are scattered around the city. The grandest is Christ Church College, founded in 1525 and now massively popular with Harry Potter fans, having appeared in several of the films. The main entrance to the college is below Tom Tower (1682), designed by Christopher Wren and containing Great Tom, a 6.35-tonne bell. Visitors should enter farther down St Aldate’s via the wrought-iron gates of the War Memorial Gardens and Broadwalk. The college chapel is Oxford Cathedral, the smallest in the country.
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Pitt Rivers Museum
Oxford has some excellent (free) museums, among them the University Museum of Natural History, famous for its dinosaur and dodo skeletons, and the attached (and incomparable) Pitt Rivers Museum, an Aladdin’s cave spread over three floors and crammed with such things as voodoo dolls and shrunken heads from the Caribbean and Pacific. Visitors are given torches (flashlights) to ‘explore’ the lower Court Gallery and are allowed to open all the drawers. Great stuff.
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University Museum of Natural History
Oxford has some excellent (free) museums, among them the University Museum of Natural History, famous for its dinosaur and dodo skeletons, and the attached (and incomparable) Pitt Rivers Museum, an Aladdin’s cave spread over three floors and crammed with such things as voodoo dolls and shrunken heads from the Caribbean and Pacific. Visitors are given torches (flashlights) to ‘explore’ the lower Court Gallery and are allowed to open all the drawers. Great stuff.
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Sheldonian Theatre
The monumental Sheldonian Theatre was the first major work of Christopher Wren, at that time a University Professor of Astronomy. Inspired by the classical Theatre of Marcellus in Rome, it has a rectangular front end and a semicircular back, while inside, the ceiling of the main hall is blanketed by a fine 17th-century painting of the triumph of truth over ignorance. The Sheldonian is now used for college ceremonies and public concerts but you can climb to the cupola for good views of the surrounding buildings.
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Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum, which opened in 1683 and is Britain’s oldest, houses a stunning collection of antiquities as well as European and British art (Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Turner, Picasso etc). The museum was closed at the time of research while a stunning new building, designed by architect Rick Mather, was being completed to replace all but the original Cockerell Building (1845). It will provide some 39 new galleries and 100% more display space than the former building.
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Magdalen College
Stunning Magdalen College, pronounced maud-lin, has huge grounds along the River Cherwell, including a deer park. On 1 May it’s traditional for students to leap off Magdalen Bridge, although low water levels and recent injuries have led authorities to ban the practice (to no avail). Just opposite are the University Botanic Gardens established in 1631 and Britain’s oldest botanic gardens.
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Oxford University
Thirty-nine colleges make up the university, their elegant honey-coloured buildings wrapping around winding cobbled streets and attracting hoards of tourists each year. Yet despite the rushing traffic and throngs of people, inside their jealously guarded quadrangles an aura of studious calm descends. The oldest colleges date back almost 750 years and little has changed inside the hallowed walls since then.
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Old Library
Just off the Mob Quad is a 13th-century chapel and the Old Library, the oldest medieval library in use. It is said that Professor JRR Tolkien spent many hours here while writing The Lord of the Rings. Other literary giants associated with the college include TS Eliot and Louis MacNeice.
If you're visiting in summer, look out for posters advertising candlelit concerts in the chapel.
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New College
From the Bodleian stroll under the Bridge of Sighs, a 1914 copy of the famous bridge in Venice, to New College . This 14th-century college was the first in Oxford to accept undergraduates and is a fine example of the glorious perpendicular style. The chapel here is full of treasures including superb stained glass, much of it original, and Sir Jacob Epstein's disturbing statue of Lazarus.
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Modern Art Oxford
Modern Art Oxford has established itself as the best contemporary art museum outside London – both inside and out; a recent exhibition saw the building’s facade transformed into a colourful wall festooned with political slogans. Guided tours depart at 1pm Tuesday and Thursday and at 11am or 3pm on Saturday.
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Bodleian Library
The Palladian-style Radcliffe Camera (1749) functions as a reading room for the Bodleian Library and boasts Britain’s third-largest dome. Check out the Bridge of Sighs, a 1914 copy of the famous Venice bridge, spanning New College Lane just east of the library.
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Merton College
Merton College, founded in 1264, sits just north of Dead Man’s Walk. The 14th-century Old Library in Mob Quad is the oldest medieval one still in use in the UK. JRR Tolkien, author of Lord of the Rings, taught English at Merton from 1945 until his retirement in 1959.
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Divinity School
On the west side of the Bodleian Library's Old Schools Quadrangle is the Divinity School , the university's first examination room. It is renowned as a masterpiece of 15th-century English Gothic architecture and has a superb fan-vaulted ceiling. A self-guided audio tour to these areas is available.
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Radcliffe Camera
Just south of the Bodleian library is the Radcliffe Camera, the quintessential Oxford landmark and one of the city's most photographed buildings. The spectacular circular library was built between 1737 and 1749 in grand Palladian style, and boasts Britain's third-largest dome.
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Balliol College
Founded in 1263 Balliol College is thought to be the oldest college in Oxford. The huge Gothic wooden doors between the inner and outer quadrangles bear scorch marks from when four Protestant clerics were burned at the stake here in the mid-16th century.
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Oxford Castle Unlocked
Oxford Castle Unlocked explores the 1000-year history of Oxford's castle and prison. You can explore the remains of the medieval motte and bailey, see an 11th-century crypt and hear tales of the inmates' grisly lives, daring escapes and cruel punishments.
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University Church of St Mary the Virgin
The University Church of St Mary the Virgin has a 14th-century tower that can be climbed (124 steps) for a fantastic view of the town’s ‘dreaming spires’.
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Museum of Oxford
A bit dated but still interesting , this is the place to brush up on the history of the city and university, from Oxford’s prehistoric mammoths to its history of car manufacturing.
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Museum of Oxford
A bit dated but still interesting , this is the place to brush up on the history of the city and university, from Oxford’s prehistoric mammoths to its history of car manufacturing.
reviewed
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Tower of Five Orders
On the eastern side of the Bodleian Library's Old Schools Quadrangle is the Tower of Five Orders, an ornate building depicting the five classical orders of architecture.
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New Bodleian Library
Designed in 1938 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect responsible for the Battersea Power Station and the iconic red telephone box (booth).
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Old Schools Quadrangle
The oldest part of the Bodleian Library surrounds the stunning Jacobean-Gothic Old Schools Quadrangle, which dates from the early 17th century.
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Museum of the History of Science
The Museum of the History of Science has a significant collection of historic scientific instruments and a blackboard used by Einstein.
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Carfax Tower
Oxford’s central landmark is the sole reminder of medieval St Martin’s Church and offers good views over the city centre.
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