{"id":858,"date":"2014-09-23T17:57:11","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T17:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/?p=858"},"modified":"2014-09-24T13:42:55","modified_gmt":"2014-09-24T13:42:55","slug":"england-day-6-the-bodleian-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/england-day-6-the-bodleian-library\/","title":{"rendered":"England, Day 6 \u2013 The Bodleian Library"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"The<\/a><\/dt>\n
The mall in Oxford. It was pretty deserted at 8:30 on a Saturday morning, but would be bustling later in the day.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Saturday morning saw us getting an early start into Oxford for a nine-thirty tour of the Bodleian Library.\u00a0 We signed up for the extended tour, which proved well worth the extra cost. Steph\u2019s family was due to arrive for a visit later in the day, so she and Freya remained at home. It would\u2019ve been difficult to manage this trip with the baby, in any case, since we went up and down many sets of stairs.<\/span><\/p>\n

(BTW: You can click\u00a0on them\u00a0to enlarge most of the pictures.)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Old Divinity School<\/p><\/div>\n

However we got into Oxford well before the tour started, so we\u00a0took some time\u00a0to rectify the coffee deficit caused by getting up and leaving so early. Thus we encountered one of the more interesting contrasts in the city. Following our son\u2019s lead, we ducked\u00a0through glass doors set\u00a0between a couple of probably Renaissance era buildings and found ourselves in a remarkably modern shopping mall hidden behind that fa\u00e7ade. A stop at Costa Coffee provided fuel for the upcoming tour.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>

More of the ceiling.<\/p><\/div>\n

T<\/span>he Bodleian Library is truly amazing. The tour begins in the old Divinity School, in the oldest examination room of the entire university.\u00a0 This is a wonder of gothic architecture, so grand I took many pictures and most of them don\u2019t begin to do it justice. The elaborately decorated ceiling has 455 bosses which feature religious symbols, monograms and shields representing<\/span>benefactors and others associated with the building.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately we weren\u2019t allowed to take pictures in what is arguably the most interesting section, Duke Humfrey’s medieval library. It sits right above the old divinity school in one of the oldest buildings in Oxford.\u00a0 The building has been lovingly and beautifully refurbished, so it looks marvelous for its age. For a book lover it\u2019s truly a cathedral to learning.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Bodleian Library Quadrangle<\/p><\/div>\n

It has a remarkable collection of ancient books, the kind you\u2019d hesitate to touch for fear they might crumble to dust in your fingers. You can ready about the history of this remarkable piece of the library here: http:\/\/www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk\/docs\/historybodleian.pdf<\/a> . <\/span>The\u00a0page includes wonderful pictures of some of the old books that we were able to view.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Radcliffe Camera<\/p><\/div>\n

Almost as interesting to many of those on the tour with us (including ourselves) was that a section of this old part of the library was used for filming the library scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.<\/span><\/p>\n

The tour then took us through a series of underground tunnels that connect most of the main buildings, including the more modern underground stacks and reading areas located under the old quadrangle, and finally into what is probably the most photographed building in all of Oxford \u2013 the Radcliffe Camera (http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Radcliffe_Camera<\/a>).\u00a0 It\u2019s as beautiful inside as it is out, though considerably more modern, having recently undergone a renovation and updating.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"View<\/a>

View of the Library through one of the windows of the divinity school.<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite its impressive, stalwart fa\u00e7ade, on a sunny day the interior is bright and cheerful due to the open plan and light from many upper windows.\u00a0Once again you tend\u00a0to feel like you\u2019re in a cathedral dedicated to learning as you soak in the atmosphere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in the day we met Steph\u2019s parents and one of her sisters, visiting from Kent, and went on to the Seven Stars Pub for a lovely dinner.\u00a0 I won\u2019t detail it here, since I\u2019m going to talk more extensively about food in my next post, but will say that none of us went away hungry, and the walk we took after the meal was quite welcome. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Freya<\/a>

Freya with her parents and both sets of grandparents<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mall in Oxford. It was pretty deserted at 8:30 on a Saturday morning, but would be bustling later in the day. Saturday morning saw us getting an early start into Oxford for a nine-thirty tour of the Bodleian Library.\u00a0 …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":886,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions\/886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}