x-default

©Nikada/Getty Images

Radcliffe Camera

Oxford


Surely Oxford’s most photographed landmark, the sandy-gold Radcliffe Camera is a beautiful, light-filled, circular, columned library. Built between 1737 and 1749 in grand Palladian style, as ‘Radcliffe Library’, it’s topped by Britain’s third-largest dome. It's only been a ‘camera’, which simply means ‘room’, since 1860, when it lost its independence and became what it remains, a reading room of the Bodleian Library. The only way for nonmembers to see the interior is on an extended 1½-hour tour of the Bodleian.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Oxford attractions

1. Brasenose College

0.02 MILES

Small, select and elegant, Brasenose College was founded in 1509. A Brasenose Hall, belonging to Oxford University, already stood here by 1262, however,…

2. Bodleian Library

0.04 MILES

At least five kings, dozens of prime ministers and Nobel laureates, and luminaries such as Oscar Wilde, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien have studied in Oxford's…

3. St Mary’s Passage

0.05 MILES

With a doorway sporting a lion’s head knocker, flanked by two golden fawns, this tiny alley is often said to have inspired elements of CS Lewis’ magical…

4. University Church of St Mary the Virgin

0.05 MILES

The ornate 14th-century spire of Oxford’s university church is arguably the dreamiest of the city’s legendary ‘dreaming spires’. Otherwise, this is famous…

5. All Souls College

0.07 MILES

One of Oxford’s wealthiest and most tranquil colleges, All Souls was founded as a centre of prayer and learning in 1438. Much of its facade dates from…

6. Bridge of Sighs

0.07 MILES

As you stroll along New College Lane, look up at the steeped Bridge of Sighs linking the two halves of Hertford College. Completed in 1914, it's sometimes…

7. Sheldonian Theatre

0.08 MILES

Built from 1663 onwards to provide an appropriately grand setting for the university’s degree ceremonies – a function it still performs – this monumental…

8. New College

0.08 MILES

New College isn’t really that new. Established in 1379 as Oxford’s first undergraduate college, it’s a glorious Perpendicular Gothic ensemble. Treasures…