Monuments to visit Oxford

As early as the 10th century, Salerno, Pavia, Bologna and Paris had schools of higher learning welcoming students from all over Europe. In England, on the other hand, illiteracy prevailed almost everywhere, including among the clergy. Hence the creation, in 1133, of a school of higher learning with the primary aim of training better-educated clerics. Oxford was a natural choice: the city was one of the most important in the kingdom, and great masters taught in churches or organized public readings before an audience of learned clerics. Oxford became a true university town when Henry II ordered English clerics to return from Paris. Christ Church is certainly the city's most famous and finest college. Its construction was ordered by King Henry VIII in 1546. Its ^17th-century dome jealously guards a bell called Great Tom, which strikes 101 times every evening to signal the closing of the college gates. In the main courtyard, nicknamed Tom Quad, you'll find the great hall and its famous staircase. Founded in 1525, the college chapel is also Oxford Cathedral, the smallest cathedral in England. It inspired Lewis Caroll, who taught there, to writeAlice in Wonderland, while the chapel's architecture influenced some of the fantastic settings in his famous novel. Several Harry Potter scenes were also filmed here.

This great Norman fortress, partly in ruins, stands to the west of Oxford city center. The wooden fortifications on the motte castrale were replaced by stone in the ^11th century and, like many similar sites in England, the castle was largely destroyed during the English Civil War. In the ^18th century, what remained was converted into a prison. Today, guided tours take visitors into the bowels of the building to discover its varied and tormented history.

Magdalen College, on the banks of the river, is recognizable by its 15th century tower from which, every May ^1st at 6am, a choir begins a 17th century Eucharistic hymn, while the students meet down on the bridge after a night of festivities. It was founded in 1448. It is also the only college to have a deer park within it. A cruel legend has it that there are as many fallow deer in the park as there are teachers in the college. Every time a teacher leaves his post, a deer is killed. To be checked anyway....

Erected in the ^14th century, Carfax Tower is well worth a visit for the view it affords of the city from its 23-metre height. No building in Oxford is allowed to surpass it in height, making it an important landmark in the city. The tower is all that remains of St. Martin's Church, built in the ^12th century. The term "Carfax" means "crossroads" in English, as the tower is located near the site of Oxford's former main crossroads, which was a strategic focal point in the historic city.

The UK's largest university library contains more than 9 million books. Many personalities have studied within its walls: 5 kings, 40 Nobel Prize winners and 25 English Prime Ministers, and writers Oscar Wilde, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Sir Thomas Bodley built the first wing in 1602. To see, The Old Schools Quadrangle, square square at the entrance, The Divinity School, The Medieval Duke's Humfrey's Library, used for the films Harry Potter, The Radcliffe Camera, first rotunda library built in Britain.

Located in a charming and quiet cobbled street, Merton College was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton, former Chancellor of England and later Bishop of Rochester. It is one of Oxford's oldest and most important colleges with its medieval buildings and 13th century chapel overlooking nature and the Thames. J.R.R.R. Tolkien was a professor here. Sociologist Theodor Adorno and poet T.S. Eliot also went through Merton College. To discover, a chapel, superb gardens and the library, one of the oldest still in operation.

University College, Oxford, is steeped in history and renowned for its prestigious academic tradition. Founded in 1249, the college has witnessed many remarkable events and personalities over the centuries. The poet Shelley was expelled for atheism. Nevertheless, a statue is dedicated to him today, although a modest veil is drawn over the reason for his expulsion: a pamphlet entitled The Necessity of Atheism. Although the college dates back to 1249, the current buildings were mainly constructed in the ^17th century.