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Photo: chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A quaint pedestrian bridge for the students of Hertford College which has popularly become known as the "Bridge of Sighs" of Oxford.
Hertford Bridge, often called the Bridge of Sighs, is a skyway joining two parts of Hertford College over New College Lane in Oxford, England. Its distinctive design makes it a city landmark.
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This unusual building was Sir Christopher Wren's first major architectural commission. At the time he was a professor of Astronomy at the university. There is a series of busts outside the theatre facing Broad St with strange expressions and facial hair.
Once voted the most uncomfortable concert hall in England, the Sheldonian never has a shortage of both professional and amateur classical music concerts, and though it is "uncomfortable", it cannot be denied that its baroque majesty is truly beautiful.
Built 1737–49, this is a library and reading room for Oxford students and so is not generally accessible. The grand exterior, however, is well worth viewing.
This museum is in the Old Ashmolean building and houses an unrivalled collection of early scientific instruments. The Old Ashmolean building is the world's oldest surviving museum-purpose building. It is a department of Oxford University and a public museum. Its website offers an online database of their collection.
Some of the best views of Oxford are afforded from the tower of the church, dating to 1280. The church, rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries (with various additions after this time), is full of architectural and historical interest. The church has a coffee shop, the Vaults and Garden, now re-opened under the management of Will Pouget (already known for his 'Alpha Bar' in the Covered Market) and specialising in organic food and fair trade tea and coffee.
The main research library of the University of Oxford, the Bodleian is one of the oldest libraries in Europe (opened in 1602, based on the collection of Thomas Bodley), and in the UK is second in size only to London's British Library. The Bodleian now possesses numerous branches throughout the university; visiting bibliophiles will be most keen to peruse the central site, which includes Duke Humfrey's Library above the Divinity School, the Old Schools Quadrangle with its Great Gate and Tower, the Radcliffe Camera, Britain’s first circular library, and the Clarendon Building.