...me!
i took these pictures my first week in oxford, when the weather was so lovely and the sun still shined in the sky at 16:30. yes. it now sets as early as 4:00pm. that means by 7pm it feels like bedtime. it's amazing i get any work done...
these pictures capture the buildings or places i frequent daily. just walking around oxford is such a treat. some of the best english architects have graced this cosmopolitan town. it such an incredible experience to study some of the buildings in my british architecture tutorial and then take a quick five minute bike ride to the town centre and travel 350 years back in time.
...
ONE:
hello! blackwells bookshop, meet __________ (insert name). i have certainly done my fair share of shopping at blackwells! when i'm not buying books there, i can be found at the cafe nero
<3 . look @ the row of windows above the ground floor, count three or four windows over and i'm usually sitting on the other side of that wall! so if you ever miss me, just come back to this picture and say---
"hi there! your book looks super interesting! your latte (mon, tues, thurs) or cappuccino (sun, wed,fri, sat) looks amazing-- too bad your pain au chocolate
didn't last longer!" my sentiments exactly! luckily my
pain au chocolate obsession is finally ebbing. blackwells is directly across the street from some incredible buildings like.... the sheldonian theatre and the clarendon building...i'll get to those in a second!
(
on a side note-one day, i was studying in blackwells at the cafe nero, as i mentioned above. just reading my architecture book and i turned the page and
bam! there was an engraving of the sheldonian theatre! of course, i laughed out loud and slowly turned my head towards the window, only to see the mass of stone, know as the sheldonian theatre happily catching the sun's rays as it had been for years. i hope i remember that moment forever. i'm living in history. i took the next fifteen minutes to compare every little detail in the engraving to the building. conclusion: i was looking at one darn good engraving.)
TWO:
the sheldonian theatre designed by one of england's greatest architects, sir christopher wren. built in 1664, arch bishop sheldon commissioned the erection of the building to function as the new building to hold secular functions. before the sheldonian theatre was built, all of oxford's functions (both secular and ecclesiastical) were held in st. mary's cathedral. many disliked the use of a religious building for secular events, hence the sheldonian theatre. this building directly quotes the roman theatre of marcellus. its designed on a u-shaped plan.
some interesting facts i learned about this building:
a. one of the most innovative aspects of this building is the roof. wren, who studied astronomy and geometry, and as the historian john summerson noted, if he died before thirty, people would remember him as a math + science genius and not associate him with architecture. -wow- i also forgot to mention this is the first building wren designed... no biggie, just one of the most fabulous buildings in oxford.... OK. back to his grad innovation with the roof. the span across the ceiling is seventy feet. wren inverted a geometric floor plan for the ceiling. he introduced the king truss system. the ceiling is not vaulted, but rather it's flat. there is an incredible ceiling painting, which has recently been restored. i was fortunate to have the opportunity to see the opera,
le nozze di figaro (FIGARO, FIGARO, FIGARO) inside the sheldonian. wow. the interior pictures will be posted soon. after i took my music class last semester, i promised myself: if i ever had the opportunity to see this opera, i would! and i did. yay me!
b. there are like four interesting facts in the note above, so i am going to skip a few letters.
e. the sheldonian theatre was the first location for oxford's publishing house!!! there was also a bookshop. many of the books were stored in the roof--the truss system was so strong, it could support so many books. cool! in a couple pictures i'll show you where the publishing house/bookstore moved after it grew out of the theatre.
f. the theatre isn't actually round---it has about eighteen flat sides or bays. designing a round theatre is quite difficult, remember how i told you this was wrens first building!?
g. the columns and wood work in the gallery are faux painted! this will become more evident when i show you the interior pictures... hold your horses!
THREE:
the clarendon building designed by one of wren's students, nicholas hawksmoor, in 1711. i particularly love walking by this building or drinking a latte under the portico. with the construction of this building, hawksmoor introduced the giant doric order portico to oxford. hawksmoor quoted wren's giant doric order portico at the royal hospital in chelsea. oxford's publishing house moved from the sheldonian theatre to this building, maybe you've heard of clarendon press?.. thanks for bringing the giant doric portico to oxford, mr. hawksmoor! oh, i forgot to mention the amazingness of the statues on the roof and in the niches-- amazing.
FOUR:
mr. roman head. i'm not sure if these were carved when the sheldonian theatre was built or if they are really
roman,
roman carved heads. there are probably more than twenty of these heads around the wall of the sheldonian theatre. i know there are three of these heads in the provost's garden at worcester college, where i had my religion seminar. i asked my professor about the striking resemblance between the heads in her garden and those around the sheldonian, she laughed and told me, no one is sure the exact date or how they got to worcester, but many believe the clever students at oxford moved the heads as a prank, probably over one-hundred years ago! (i did note there are fewer roman heads around the sheldonian now than there are in the engraving in my text) i'll have to find my picture of the head at worcester.
FIVE:
the tower of the five orders, in the bodleian quadrangle.
>silence please< this decoration illustrates the importance of classical knowledge, emphasizing the orders of classical architecture. doric-tuscan-ionic-corinthian-composite...i'm not sure if that's the exact order, but those are the columns included...
SIX:
across from the main entrance to the sheldonian theatre, i can't remember the name of this building, but they filmed the infirmary scenes of harry potter in it! cheers.
SEVEN:
the bridge of sighs connects the old and new quad of hertford college. apparently its called the bridge of sighs because there were gallows just beyond the bridge. as the parade of people, which included the person who was about to get meet their fate, passed under the bridge the community would pass a sigh of relief that the person would soon be hung.
on a side note, one of my professors told me that when there was a hanging in oxford or an event at the guillotine, it was quite the place to be! after the last breath, two teams would race to retrieve the body:
team one: the family
team two: oxford students.
if the oxford students were successful, then there would be a fight between different colleges within oxford.
...to this day there are still tensions between townies and gownies...
EIGHT:
drum roll
the Radcliff Camera known to many on a first syllable basis--simply the
rad cam and RAD it is! lucky for me, the majority of all the books for my tutes are located in this robust building! yes, the art history books in the upper portion and the history/english books in the lower. at first i was a little nervous about studying in this building. the ornate beauty was so distracting. somehow i've managed to get some work done in it. the interior is incredible. photography is not permitted inside, but i'm going to see if i can work something out. john gibbs designed the rad cam. he was inspired by wren's drawings for a round library, who was inspired by inigo jones's round library floor plan. hawksmoor, who designed the clarendon building, was planing to design the rad cam, but he died. thus giving mr. gibbs the opportunity.
good work, gibbs! there is one major advantage and disadvantage with a round library---one: the light! there is such much lovely light! essential for reading, especially in the old-n-days.
two: storage space! the walls are round and everyone knows how useless round bookshelves are!!! seriously. its been very difficult adjusting to the hours of the bodleian (the bod) library. m-f: 9-10pm/sat:9-4/
sun: CLOSED!!!! can you believe it!? it's a reference library, which means no books leave the building. this is where my ever-evolving skill of time management either tremulously helps or hurts me...more so the latter, methinks.
NINE:
KEBLE!!! the college where i eat everyday and check out books from the library! :) it's quite fitting that uga has an associate membership with the only red brick college in oxford. built during the gothic revival in england. the diverse colours of brick reflect the growing industry of brick and transportation in england. why yes, the bricks are from all different parts of england, unified by the, then new, always grand locomotive system. the red bricks of keble were frowned upon by many. the union at oxford proposed that the membership fee should be reduced to one red brick from keble and eventually the college would no longer exist! luckily the red bricks had a better fate than the roman heads now located worcester college's garden.
so. in a nutshell, i have introduced you to the buildings i walk by everyday. their character and history is immensely rich. i hope you enjoyed reading--
look mom and dad, i'm learning somethings! ;) i'm tired and not going to edit this post...so i apologize for any garmatcical errrs.
until next time,
xoxo
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