Oxford’s Radcliffe Camera is among the city’s most recognisable landmarks, with its circular limestone form rising prominently above the skyline associated with the City of Dreaming Spires.
The exterior has attracted thousands of visitors, but access to the interior has historically been more restricted.
Constructed from stone quarried at Headington and Burford, the building houses an extensive collection of books and continues to serve as a working library for Oxford University students and other readers.
Its controlled public access means that visitors cannot normally enter simply to look around.
The library originated from the plans of physician John Radcliffe, who died in 1714 and bequeathed funds for land, a library building and an endowment for its future operation.
Architect James Gibbs designed the monumental circular structure, which was built between 1737 and 1748 and opened in 1749.
For more than a century, the library was administered independently of the Bodleian.
That arrangement ended in 1860, when the institution became known as the Radcliffe Camera.
Its name comes from the Latin word for room.
The building’s present role still closely reflects its original function.
The Lower Camera Reading Room contains the History Lending Collection, while an upper reading area allows visitors to work beneath the dome.
Wi-Fi, computers and printing services have been introduced alongside the historic surroundings.
Beneath Radcliffe Square lies another important part of the site.
An underground book store was excavated between 1909 and 1912 after the Bodleian needed additional space for a rapidly growing collection.
When it was completed, it was the largest underground book store in the world.
Tunnels connected the Radcliffe Camera with other areas of the Bodleian complex.
Books were transferred through this underground network by conveyor, while the route above continued to carry pedestrians across Radcliffe Square.
The former book store and passage have since been converted into the Gladstone Link.
Two floors of study space now connect the Radcliffe Camera with the Bodleian Old Library by tunnel, including 120 places for readers.
The Bodleian’s specialist After Hours Tours provide access to this underground route for visitors.
The £25 experience begins in Duke Humfrey’s Library after students have departed, continues through the Gladstone Link and concludes inside the Radcliffe Camera.
Dates for the tour are currently awaiting confirmation.
Nearly 280 years after opening, the Radcliffe Camera remains an operational library rather than a static museum attraction.
Gibbs’s sweeping 18th-century design and the concealed network once used to move books around the Bodleian form only part of a site that has served readers for almost three centuries while remaining one of Oxford’s most distinctive sights.