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Above: Radcliffe Camera from ground level in Radcliffe Square |
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Location of the Radcliffe Camera within central OxfordThe Radcliffe Camera (colloquially, "Rad Cam" or "Radders") is a building in Oxford, England, designed by James Gibbs in the English Palladian style and built in 1737–1749 to house the Radcliffe Science Library. The building was funded by a £40,000 bequest from John Radcliffe, who died in 1714. Nicholas Hawksmoor originally proposed making the building round, although the final plans designed by Gibbs were quite different from those planned by Hawksmoor.
After the Radcliffe Science Library moved into another building, the Radcliffe Camera became home to additional reading rooms of the Bodleian Library. It now holds books from the English, history, and theology collections, mostly secondary sources found on undergraduate reading lists. There is space for around 600,000 books in rooms beneath Radcliffe Square.
Many students choose to order books up to Radcliffe Camera's reading rooms to enjoy the picturesque surroundings. Annoyingly for staff, it is also one of the harder Bodleian sites to deliver items to.[1]
The word camera translates from Latin as "room" or "chamber".
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References in popular culture
- J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, remarked that the building resembled Sauron's temple to Morgoth on Númenor.[2] It also features in The Notion Club Papers.
- Elizabeth Kostova's novel The Historian includes a very intense scene set in the interior of the Radcliffe Camera.
- The Camera was used as a location in the films Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Opium Wars (Yapian zhanzheng) (1997), The Saint (1997) and The Red Violin (1998),[3] and was seen in The Golden Compass (2008).
- The building is also seen in the Inspector Morse television series, set in Oxford.
See also
References
- ^ Henry Clarke Price (2007-11-16). "The Bod's Secret Underbelly", Cherwell.
- ^ Simon Rose, December 9, 2001 tourist trail article Fellowship of the Ring/J.R.R. Tolkien Trail 24 hour museum.
- ^ Leonard, Bill, The Oxford of Inspector Morse Location Guides, Oxford (2004) p.202 ISBN 0-9547671-1-X.
External links
- Map sources for Radcliffe Camera
- Photograph and short history from OxfordCityGuide.com
- Britain Express information
- Photograph from Daily Information
- Images of Radcliffe Camera
- Images of England — details from listed building database (245749)
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