The Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library is one of the oldest and most celebrated libraries in Europe. Its story began in the fifteenth century, when Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester—the younger brother of Henry V—gave the University of Oxford an important collection of manuscripts. A new library was constructed to house them and opened in 1488, forming the oldest part of what is now the Bodleian.
Beneath the library stands the Divinity School, a masterpiece of late-Gothic architecture originally created for lectures, examinations and debates in theology. Its magnificent vaulted ceiling contains more than 400 carved bosses, including the coats of arms of individuals who helped finance its construction. Over the centuries, the room has witnessed university ceremonies, religious disputes and political upheaval, and it later found a new audience as a filming location for the Harry Potter films.
Above it lies Duke Humfrey’s Library, Oxford’s oldest surviving purpose-built library room. Its medieval collection was largely destroyed during the Reformation, but the library was restored by the scholar and diplomat Sir Thomas Bodley and reopened in 1602. Bodley also negotiated an agreement with the Stationers’ Company that helped establish the library’s right to receive a copy of every book published in England—a principle that contributed to the extraordinary growth of its collections.
Beyond the Divinity School and Duke Humfrey’s Library, the Bodleian occupies a remarkable group of buildings at the historic heart of Oxford. The Old Schools Quadrangle, completed in the seventeenth century, once housed the University’s teaching schools and now forms the centre of the Old Library. Nearby, Convocation House and Chancellor’s Court reflect the Bodleian’s close connection with the government and discipline of the University, while the eighteenth-century Radcliffe Camera has become one of Oxford’s most recognisable landmarks. Beneath the streets, the modern Gladstone Link connects these historic reading rooms, and across Broad Street the Weston Library preserves rare books, manuscripts and archives while presenting changing exhibitions open to the public.