May 2, 2024:
We toured the City Centre of Oxford on foot on a Self-Guided Tour of the City Centre (we parked our car in one of the park-and-ride car lots outside the City Centre and rode a bus into the City Centre).
We started our self-guided walk at the corner of Broad Street and Cornmarket…
Saxon Tower – A few steps south of this intersection we got a glimpse of Oxford’s oldest building, the tall, stone Saxon Tower, from about 1,000 A.D.
Saxon Tower – Oxford
We now walked east along Broad Street for about 100 yards to see the…
Oxford Martyrs Cross – This patch of bricks, shaped into the form of a cross, marks the spot where three local bishops, known as the “Oxford Martyrs”; were burned at the stake for heresy in 1555-1556. Their crime: Protestantism.
Oxford Martyrs’ cross – Broad Street
Balliol College – We now toured this college north of Broad Street for €5 (we were unable to see the Dining Room since it was occupied by students – we were told that we could back later in the afternoon on our same tickets and still see the Dining Room – we did return later, and were told, that, sorry, the Dining Room was closed for a meeting). So we only toured the College Chapel and the College grounds.
Balliol College
Balliol College Chapel
Balliol College Courtyard and Sundial
Trinity College and Exeter College – We also tried to enter Trinity College and Exeter College, but they were both closed to the public.
Man on a Building statue – While we were trying to find an open college, we noticed a building on the south side of Broad Street with an unusual piece of art – a “man standing”.
Man standing on building statue
Sheldonian Theatre – This theatre was open, so we toured it. We noticed upon entering numerous “heads” outside the theatre. These heads are nicknamed “the emperors.” (Some jokingly say they were carved to illustrate different styles of beards. Students occasionally prank them with funny hats or chalk lipstick).
Sheldonian Theatre – Look at the heads on the walls, fences
This venue for concerts and lectures is best known as the grand space for graduations and other important campus ceremonies. It was the first major building designed by Sir Christopher Wren—an Oxford graduate and Astronomy professor. The theater was such a success that Wren went on to become England’s best-known architect, designing such grand structures as St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Cost and Hours – Open 10 am – 4 pm; £4; www.sheldonian.ox.ac.uk/.
Visiting the Theater: Before entering the theater, we made our way behind the Sheldonian (away from the street), to a Gothic-looking building with big windows and buttresses topped with prickly spires. This was the university’s first purpose-built classroom (1427) and is its oldest surviving building—the Divinity School (which we’ll visit later). Admire the elaborately carved doorway, which was added later (1669) by Wren.
Christopher Wren Doorway – Divinity School
Traditionally, graduating students would gather inside here, then walk out the Wren doorway and proceed grandly into the Sheldonian Theatre for the main ceremony. For now, we went inside the Sheldonian Theatre (through the entrance).
Entrance to Sheldonian Theatre
The interior of the theatre is basically one big round room ringed with seats. The construction is largely wood painted in pleasing red, white, and gold, and lit by the clear-glass windows. It’s in this grand space that new students matriculate and graduates graduate.
Sheldonian Theatre interior
Organ and elaborate ornamental decorations
The ceiling painting is made up of 32 separate panels, executed in the studio then pieced together with a grid of golden ropes. It depicts Truth—the radiant naked woman in the center—descending on a cloud to bless the university’s Arts and Sciences (the robed women bearing harps, pens, quadrants, and telescopes). Most importantly, Truth banishes Ignorance—the Medusa near the pipe organ who tumbles down dramatically in defeat. (Also, near the organ, on the wall, is a portrait of Wren). Wren’s domed ceiling was an engineering marvel, spanning a 70-by-80-foot hole. No beams were long enough to bridge that gap, so Wren had to construct a lattice of overlapping timbers.
Arts and Sciences surrounding Truth
Sheldonian Theatre ceiling sign
Truth descending to bless the Arts and Sciences
Medusa tumbling down in defeat
Christopher Wren portrait at Sheldonian Theatre – Photo: artuk.org
Next we climbed 114 steps to a glass-covered cupola with great views. Looking southeast we saw the heart of the university (where we’ll soon be), with the prickly spires of the Bodleian Library and the dome in Radcliffe Square. Everywhere, we saw why Oxford has been dubbed “the city of dreaming spires.”
Views from the Sheldonian Theatre cupola
White Horse Tavern – Since our next stop, the Museum of the History of Science, wasn’t open until 12 noon, we decided to have a drink at an iconic location along Broad Street, the White Horse Tavern. Famous for its cameo roles in the PBS series Inspector Lewis, this bar used to be a hangout of Bill Clinton and Winston Churchill.
White Horse Inn
Interior – the White Horse Inn
Museum of the History of Science – This free museum has interesting exhibits about key discoveries in Oxford by scientists that have changed the world.
Cost and Hours – Free, £5 donation requested, reserve timed-entry ticket online; open Tuesday-Sunday, 12 pm – 5 pm, closed Monday; www.hsm.ox.ac.uk.
Visiting the Museum – As we explored, we borrowed descriptions keyed to exhibit numbers. Upstairs, we found early globes, sundials, telescopes, and calculating machines. With a wedge-shaped quadrant, you could measure your position at sea in relation to the stars. A round astrolabe did the same but calculated the math for you. In the basement, our eyes were drawn to a big crown. It adorns a huge lodestone—a natural magnet unearthed in the 1700s that could lift 160 pounds of iron. Exploring the other display cases, there were lots of flasks (including equipment used in developing penicillin), Marconi’s early radios, and Lewis Carroll’s photo-developing kit.
Queen Elizabeth I’s astrolabe
John Dee’s holy table
Astronomical tools
King George III’s microscope
John Russell’s moon globe
Telescopes
Solar system model
Another solar system model
Medical tools
Wireless exhibit
Typhoid exhibit
Exhibits in the Museum of the History of Science
The museum’s highlight is at the far end of the main room, hanging on the wall: Einstein’s blackboard. Einstein personally scrawled this equation in chalk (D = 1/c..). during a lecture he gave at Oxford in 1931. Using the distance to a certain galaxy (D) as his starting point, he calculated the entire universe’s density (p) and radius (P) in light years (“L.J.”) to prove that the universe is indeed expanding.
Einstein’s Blackboard
Weston Library – Our next stop, Weston Library, was also the place to buy tickets to view the Divinity School. We did not take the time to examine the library’s “Treasures”, with rotating exhibitions such as a Shakespeare First Folio, a copy of the Magna Carta, handwritten scores by Handel, etc.).
Weston Library foyer
Cost and Hours – Open Monday – Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm; £5 donation requested; www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/libraries/weston.
Bridge of Sighs – Next we crossed Broad Street, went through the Clarendon Building, and then turned left to view Hertford Bridge, modeled after the “Bridge of Sighs” in Venice, Italy.
Hertford Bridge “Bridge of Sighs”
We kept going straight ahead, into the next building, into a courtyard of the…
Bodleian Library – As the university’s main library (and one of the oldest in Europe), this is arguably the heart of Oxford’s academic life, and worth two stars (the library was sold out during our visit – we should have booked in advance). The collection of books dates back to medieval times, and, as it expanded, various buildings were constructed to accommodate both the books and the students who studied them. The Schools Quadrangle (where we’re standing) is the heart of the library, funded by Thomas Bodley in 1602. The statue in the courtyard honors William Pembroke, a friend of Shakespeare, founder of Pembroke College, and university chancellor when this part of the Bodleian was built.
William Pembroke statue – Bodleian Library courtyard
The doors branching off the courtyard led to the various university departments—the music school (Schola Musica), astronomy (Schola Astronomae), and so on—where classes were taught in Europe’s universal language, Latin.
School of Natural Philosophy
School of Music
Bodleian courtyard
These days, the Bodleian is less about classrooms and more a research library for scholars. With some 11 million books and more than 100 miles of shelving in its underground stacks, “the Bod” is one of the world’s largest and most famous libraries. By law, it’s one of six “legal deposit” libraries in the UK—it must receive a copy of every book printed in the nation.
The courtyard’s main tower is called the Tower of the Five Orders, because of the five types of columns: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. The statue of King James I (ruler when the Bodleian was built) shows him handing out, what else? Books.
Tower of Five Orders
King James I statue – handing out books
Tower of the Five Orders
We now used our prebooked tickets to enter the…
Divinity School – see discoveroxfordshire.com/things-to-do/the-divinity-school/. The Divinity School, rated two stars, was the university’s first purpose-built classroom—constructed in 1427 for teaching theology. The room, brilliantly lit by tall clear windows, is worth a look for its impressive fan-vaulted ceiling.
Cost and hours – Open Monday – Friday, 9 am – 5 pm, £2.50; a guided tour of the Divinity School also includes a tour of Duke Humfrey’s Library (this Library tour was sold out); £12 one-hour tours in the morning and early afternoon, £9 30-minute tours later; +44 1865 287 400; www.visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
Visiting the School – The room’s ceiling is one of Britain’s most intricate. It takes the traditional fan-vaulting another step, adding small ribs connecting the larger ribs, creating a net-like effect. The 455 bosses where the ribs join sport monograms of major donors. The lantern-like sculptures hanging down at the ends of the fans are what anchor the complex engineering forces in place. The windows are classic Perpendicular style—that is, very vertical, rising “perpendicular” to the ground.
Ceiling of the Divinity School
On display was Sir Thomas Bodley’s lockbox, with its intricate locking mechanism requiring several keys, turns, pushes, and pulls.
Sir Thomas Bodley’s lockbox
Nearby, a chair is made of timbers from Sir Francis Drake’s globe-circumnavigating ship. At the far end, note the stage—students stood here for oral exams, to be grilled by their professors.
Chair made from Sir Francis Drake’s ship
These days, students gather here to put on their gowns before walking to their graduation ceremony at the theater next door. A photo near the entry shows the university’s first library. Before leaving, imagine hospital beds lining this hall…yes, it’s the infirmary from the Harry Potter films.
Early history of the Bodleian Library
Duke Humphrey’s Library – Upstairs and only accessible on a guided tour, this historic library from 1488 is a world of musty, creaky old shelves of ancient-looking books, stacked neatly under a beautifully painted wooden ceiling (£12 one-hour tours generally run in the morning and early afternoon, £9 30-minute tours run later, £18 1.5-hour tours available Wednesday and Sunday; check the schedule and buy your ticket online or at the kiosk; same-day tickets are released each morning—half online and half at the kiosk—so if you can’t get tickets online, head to the kiosk; +44 1865 287 400, https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk). The tour, which also includes the Divinity School, shows you only a small section of the library, but tells much about its history and the huge stockpile of books below ground. We couldn’t sign up for this Library tour – they were sold out – we should have booked in advance.
We now returned to the Bodleian Library courtyard and exited through the passageway (between “Schola Musicae” and “Naturalis Philosophiae“), to see…
Radcliffe Camera – The round, columned structure is Radcliffe Camera, probably Oxford’s most iconic building. See www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/libraries/radcliffe-camera.
Radcliffe Camera
Radcliffe Camera was built in the 1730s by major donor John Radcliffe (no relation to the Harry Potter actor) as an annex to the Bodleian Library. The architect, James Gibbs, was strongly influenced by Wren. Originally housing medical books, the building is a reading “room” (or “camera”). Only students and staff with special credentials can enter. They request books from the vast collection (including the thousands shelved in tunnels beneath the square), and study them at desks under the spacious rotunda.
All Souls College – We circled around the left side of the Radcliffe Camera and grabbed the bars of the fancy ironwork gate for a peek into All Souls College.
All Souls College Gate
View of All Souls College
The college is named for the dead of the Hundred Years’ War that England fought with France in the 14th and 15th centuries. The college is notorious for having the toughest entrance exam and is nicknamed “the school with no students,” as its student body is composed entirely of research fellows. Famous alums include Lawrence of Arabia and Christopher Wren—who designed the ornate sundial on the far left.
Christopher Wren Sundial – Wikimedia – Tony Hisgett
University Church of St. Mary the Virgin – Just pass Radcliffe Camera is where the university was born, and it remains the heart of Oxford’s sprawling campus. A thousand years ago, this church stood at the center of the small, walled town. (The tower—the oldest part of this much-renovated church—dates from 1270). As the embryonic university formed, this church was its only building: where scholars prayed, lectured, kept their books, administered affairs, and received graduation degrees with pomp and circumstance. As the university expanded and secularized, scholastic activities gravitated outward—to the Divinity School, Bodleian Library, and so on. By the 1600s, even graduation ceremonies were deemed too inappropriate for a church and were moved to Wren’s new Sheldonian Theatre. But the University Church has always remained the place to where the university’s community goes for spiritual sustenance. In 1942, a small group of Oxford citizens met here to help desperate WWII victims in Greece and founded what grew into the worldwide relief organization called Oxfam.
St. Mary’s University Church
Cost and Hours – Open September – June, 9:30 am – 5 pm; Free; £5 tower climb (127 steps); www.universitychurch.ox.ac.uk/content/plan-your-visit.
We entered the church and were treated to a free concert.
Christ Church College – Our next stop was Christ Church College. From St. Mary’s University Church we walked down Magpie Lane, went through a black gate on the right, a “kissing gate” at Deadman’s Walk, crossed Christ Church Meadow, and finally, reached Christ Church College.
Kissing Gate – Christ Church College
Christ Church Meadow
Christ Church College
When we arrived, we were told that the Dining Hall of Christ Church College was unavailable until 2 pm (the time was approximately 1 pm) since it was in use by students, and that Christ Church was closed all day to outside visitors (for some unexplained reason). When we inquired about seeing the Dining Hall after 2 pm, we were informed that all tours of the Dining Hall were sold out until 3:30 pm (once again, we learned a lesson about pre-booking our tickets).
Accordingly, we walked to the park-and-ride pickup spot in the City Centre and returned to our car and our accommodation.