Radcliffe Camera
From Free net encyclopedia
The Radcliffe Camera (often abbreviated to "the Rad Cam" in Oxford), is a building in Oxford, England, and was built by James Gibbs between 1737 and 1749 to house the Radcliffe Science Library. The building was funded by a £40,000 bequest from John Radcliffe, who died in 1714, and it was Nicholas Hawksmoor who came up with the idea of making the building round.
 Radcliffe Camera, viewed from the University Church |
 Radcliffe Camera from ground level in Radcliffe Square |
 Make Poverty History campaigners form a human ring around Radcliffe Camera, 2005-06-08. |
After the Radcliffe Science Library eventually moved into another building, the Radcliffe Camera became a reading room of the Bodleian Library. It now holds books from the English and History collection.
J.R.R. Tolkien once remarked that the building resembles Sauron's temple to Morgoth on Númenor.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova sets a very intense scene in the interior of the Radcliffe Cam.