Oxford University in my thoughts One is overwhelmed with Oxford University and its splendor and the architectural wonder created by Sir Christopher Wren. The streets abound with cafes, scruffy scholars young and old, deep in meditation. One can also see profs in Harris Tweeds – perhaps a familiar sight in the last 100 years.The books which the Oxford Library offers to those interested- free with some coaxing, opens up a new world, quite unknown to the casual tourist. The information below is a labour of love. I had studied in ‘the Oxford of the East’ – Allahabad University……….. o la la la ! A flight of imagination. 39 colleges make up Oxford University. The elegant honey-coloured buildings with winding cobbled streets is a study in contrast to the rushing traffic and milling people of the town. Here customs still rule, so do dress codes and archaic traditions. The architecture remains untouched and so do the aura of a studious calm. Still to day the University along with Cambridge University are in the first five Universities of the world. Christ Church College The grandest college is the Christ Church College founded in 1525.Funds were diverted from building 22 monasteries to make the magnificent buildings .Tourists throng not only to admire the main entrance built by Sir Christopher Wren, the greatest architect of his age, but also to bask in the environment which nurtured Einstein, poet Auden and Lewis Carol- along with 13 British prime ministers. The college has acquired latter- day fame as the location of Harry Potter films. Sheldonian Threatre The Sheldonian Theatre, again a handiwork of Sir Wren, is now used for college ceremonies, for conferring honorary degrees and public concerts. The Proctor’s chair from which speeches are made has the figure of a lion’s mouth from which an axe juts out. It represents the Roman symbol of authority, later adopted by Mussolini as the badge of his Fascist party. On the side of the Chancellor’s throne, there is a vacant seat,( still intact but not utilized now) for the University Fool, the replica of the Shakespearean Fool, who punctuated the ceremonies with satirical comments - till he went too far. The diary of a Country Bumpkin remains incomplete without the legends of the Ghosts of Oxford
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 13:17:57 +0000