Radcliffe Camera Oxford University - reading room of the Bodleian library
The circular dome and drum of the Radcliffe Camera is one of the most distinctive landmarks in Oxford. The camera (the word means simply "room") was built 1737-1749. The Radcliffe Camera was intended to house a new library, and designs were called for from several leading architects, including Nicholas Hawksmoor (responsible for much of All Soul's College) and James Gibbs. Gibbs won the competition, with his elegant Palladian design, though his final plans drew heavily on earlier work by Hawksmoor. 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.
Size: 3532px × 5224px
Location: Oxford Oxon United Kingdom
Photo credit: © Claire Plumridge / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: architectural, architecture, bike, blue, bodleian, books, building, camera, campus, circular, clouds, details, distinctive, dome, education, grass, history, landmark, library, oxford, oxfordshire, padlocked, palladian, palladianism, radcliffe, railing, reading, rooms, scientific, sky, stone, university
