Best of Oxford

Oxford, the City of Dreaming Spires in reference to the harmonious architecture of university buildings, is considered as the most popular tourist destinations in England. It has many reasons for this popularity; the city remains relatively small, a mix of ancient and modern, whether you are visiting one of the historic buildings, colleges or museums, or just going out for a drink or a meal. Oxford has it all.

The main research library of Oxford University is considered as one of the oldest libraries in Europe and as the second in size after British Library in London furthermore it is a copyright deposit library. The Oxford scholars know it as “Bodley” or simply “the Bod” and its collections are used by scholars from around the world.

The library was founded by Thomas Cobham and started as a small collection of chained books, but when Humphrey - Duke of Gloucester – donated a great collection of manuscripts, the space was deemed insufficient and a suitable room was built above the Divinity School.

The Bodleian continue with the expansion and new buildings were built. It is not a lending library – no books can be borrowed, only read on the premises. The general public cannot enter to reading rooms these is only for members. Non doubt is a masterpiece of English Gothic architecture.

Today the Bodleian includes several off-site storage areas as well as nine other libraries: the Bodleian Japanese Library, the Bodleian Law Library, the Hooke Library, the Indian Institute Library, the Oriental Institute Library, the Philosophy Library, the Radcliffe Science Library, the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House, and the Vere Harmsworth Library.

The Radcliffe Camera is one of the most distinctive landmarks, in a city full of distinctive buildings; by its circular dome and drum. The word “camera” means simply “room” or “chamber”. It was funded by John Radcliffe and designed by James Gibbs, who won the competition with his elegant Palladian design, but Nicholas Hawksmoor proposed making the building round.

Originally the library in the Radcliffe Camera held both scientific and general books, but those collections were gradually moved to other University libraries, so that today the Camera functions as the main reading room of the Bodleian Library. The finished building holds some 600,000 books in underground rooms beneath Radcliffe Square. Nowadays, the Radcliffe Camera is not open to the public.

It is the oldest botanic garden in Great Britain and the third oldest scientific garden in the world. It was founded by Henry Danvers in 1621 as a Physic Garden growing plants for medicinal research.

The Physic Garden was built on the site of the former medieval Jewish Cemetery; and the construction had an enormous cost, much of that sum went on the walls which enclosed the original garden and comparatively little was left for plants.

Despite the size of the benefaction, the walls and arches were built on such a grand scale that constitutes a perfect legacy with a wonderful range of plants from around the world.

The first fruit listed in the Garden’s first catalogue of plants was the medlar in 1648. The oldest tree in the Garden is English yew that was planted in 1645, now yew tree is the source of a drug that is being used in the treatment of breast, ovarian and cervical cancer.

The Garden comprises three sections:

• The Walled Garden, surrounded by the original seventeenth century stonework and home to the Garden’s oldest tree, the English yew.
• The Glasshouses, which allow the cultivation of plants needing protection from the extremes of British weather.
• The area outside the walled area between the Walled Garden and the River Cherwell.

Today it contains over 8,000 different plant species. It is one of the most diverse yet compact collections of plants in the world. The gardens result a wonderfully peaceful corner of Oxford, and a popular destination for locals and tourist.

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology is one of the great museums in the world and it can lay claim to be Britain’s first official museum. Indeed, at the time of its founding, the term “museum” was unknown.

Based originally on the idiosyncratic collection of natural history specimens, collected by gardeners, travellers and collectors John Tradescant (father and son), who displayed their collection at their house in Lambeth, south of London, but later deeded the curiosities to Elias Ashmole. The collection included antique coins, books, engravings, geological specimens, and zoological specimens - one of which was the body of the last Dodo seen in Europe.

These buildings first opened their doors on 1683 and the first Ashmolean was composed of three separate parts: the collection, a chemistry laboratory, and lecture rooms.

The present Ashmolean designed by Charles Cockerell in a classical style, was built next to the University’s art collection. It contains the original collections of Ashmole and Tradescant, as well as huge collections of archaeology specimens and fine art. It has one of the best collections of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, majolica pottery and English silver. The archaeology department includes the bequest of Arthur Evans and so has an excellent collection of Greek and Minoan pottery. The department also has an extensive collection of antiquities from Ancient Egypt and the Sudan, and the museum hosts the Griffith Institute for the advancement of Egyptology.

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