Radcliffe Camera Flashcards
Radcam Para 1
This is the first round library in the world, built in 1748, and was designed by James Gibbs. Whilst it is sometimes viewed as the heart of Oxford, in truth not much happens here. The Radcliffe Camera is now an extension of the Bodleian library. The whole road surface of Radcliffe Square between the two buildings lies only a few inches above the roof of the underground storage space in which some of the Bodleian’s millions of volumes are stored. The building owes its existence to Doctor John Radcliffe. He was not a great academic, nor even a long inhabitant of the university. He was, like so many benefactors before and since, simply someone who passed through Oxford University and then remembered it in his will. He attended University College at the age of 13, before becoming a fellow at Lincoln College at age 18. He went on to study medicine and set up a practice in Oxford, where he saw great success. He won the attention of the Royal Court when he saved the life of William III. On being summoned to Queen Mary II, who was suffering from smallpox, he read the list of treatments she had already been given by other doctors, and declared she was as good as dead. He was right. When he died, he left enough money to build a new quad at his old college, £40,000 for the Radcliffe Camera and a sizeable trust to be distributed by the University.
