CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE & CATHEDRAL

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.