Oxford is a typical English city, only 30min from the UK's capital city London away. It is situated on the river Cherwell's estuary in the Thamse, in the east of England. With its ~100 000 inhabitants it has less than a quarter of Vienna's population and almost the population of Carinthia's capital city Klagenfurt. Since the 9th century Oxford has been an established town and nowadays, the city is a bustling cosmopolitan town. Still with its ancient University, but home also to a growing hi-tech community. Many businesses are located in and around the town, whether on one of the Science and Business parks or within one of a number of residential areas.
With its mix of ancient and modern, there is plenty to do for tourists. Whether it is visiting one of the many historic buildings, colleges or museums, going out for a drink in one of the old, hidden pubs or just going shopping, Oxford has it all.
But the most important things Oxford is famous for all over the world are several colleges, enormous and ancient libraries, like the Bodleian library or museums like the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments or the Ashmolean or for the oldest English speaking university in the world, the Oxford university. Oxford is a unique and historic institution. There is no clear date of foundation, but teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.
The University assumed a leading role in the Victorian era, especially in religious controversy. From 1878, academic halls were established for women, who became members of the University in 1920. Since 1974, all but one of Oxford's 39 colleges have changed their statutes to admit both men and women. Nowadays, St Hilda is the only remaining women's college in Oxford.
Some very important and famous colleges in Oxford are:
Christ Church College is one of the oldest buildings in Oxford from the twelfth century and one of the smallest Anglican cathedrals in England. It is also the only church in the world to be both a cathedral and a college chapel. Christ Church is unique among the Oxford or Cambridge colleges in possessing an important Italian art collection of Old Master paintings and drawings - some 300 paintings and almost 2000 drawings in all.
And also very important scenes from Harry Potter Part 1+2 have been filmed in the old and wonderful halls of Christ Church College.
Jesus College is the only Oxford college to date from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Since the admission of women in 1974, when Jesus was among the first five men's colleges to become co-educational, the College has been among the most academically successful in the University and women now comprise between one-third and one-half of the undergraduate body.
The 'Hall of the Queen's Scholars at Oxford' (=Queen's College) was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield, a chaplain in the household of Queen Philippa, who named it in her honour. Membership was to be open, but with a preference for inhabitants of Cumberland and Westmorland. Initially Queen's was poor, but the endowment slowly grew. Today, candidates from all possible backgrounds are welcomed and northerners no longer have preference.
New College was founded in 1379; about 200 years after the University came into existence. It is one of the largest and best-known colleges, and undeniably one of the most beautiful. It is one of the largest Oxford colleges, with some 400 undergraduates and nearly 200 graduates. It is, like all Oxford colleges, an autonomous, self-governing institution.
Corpus Christi College was founded in 1517 as a centre for a new kind of learning and is one of the smaller colleges of Oxford. Bishop Fox, the founder of Corpus College, wrote in his statutes that he wanted the college to be like a beehive - industrious, productive and mutually supportive, and that's exactly what it is nowadays.
St Hugh's College is neither one of the largest, nor one of the best Colleges in Oxford, but it offers various exchange programmes, especially in summer it offers a huge range of English summer courses for those who want to improve their English knowledge with professional help.
The Bodleian Library in the University of Oxford is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, is in England second in size only to the British Library and is the main research library of the University of Oxford. It has a continuous history from 1602 but even then it was a refoundation on the site of an earlier library. The first real library which the University possessed, housed in a building designed for that purpose, was founded by Thomas Cobham, Bishop of Worcester but his building was still unfinished when he died in 1327, not only prematurely, but also in debt.
The Bodleian Library is divided into such libraries as: the Bodleian Japanese Library, the Bodleian Law Library, the Indian Institute Library, the Oriental Institute Library, Rhodes House Library, the Radcliffe Science Library and the Philosophy Library.
The central buildings include Duke Humfrey's Library above the Divinity School, the "Old Schools Quadrangle" with its Great Gate and Tower, the Clarendon Building and the Radcliffe Camera.
The Camera, a large circular building with a lofty dome, was built by James Gibbs between 1737 and 1749 with money donnated by John Radcliffe (1650-1714), the famous physician, and was designed to house a library endowed by Radcliffe.
The Camera itself was first lent to the Bodleian Curators and later, in 1927, the Trustees presented the freehold to the University. The exterior stonework has been cleaned and partly refaced at the expense of the Historic Buildings Appeal. Now it contains two reading rooms, mainly used by undergraduates. Beneath the lawn to the north is an underground book-store, built in 1912, connected with the Camera, and, by a subway, with the Old Library.
The New Library (not open to visitors) consists of a central book-stack of eleven floors, reading rooms, map room, and rooms for research and staff purposes.
The Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean's building was designed by C.R.Cockrell and completed in 1845. It is one of the finest examples of neo-classical architecture in the country and provides a very sympathetic interior for the display of works of art and antiquities.The treasures of the Ashmolean Museum have been accumulated over three centuries since its foundation by Elias Ashmole in 1683. It is the oldest museum to open to the public in Britain, and may even be the oldest in the world. It is a museum that will provide many hours of happy browsing for anyone interested in art and archaeology. For visitors who are specialists in all kind of fields from Old Master drawings to Oriental lacquer, Greek coins to Iranian bronzes, it offers collections of international importance. It is really worth seeing!