Added: Jan 9, 2009

From: emeritamanansala

Duration: 7:46

Traveling from Manchester to Oxford is a journey into the heart of England filled with cherished icons of past eras.Manchester was the world's first industrial center, and the grim legacy of those days is still very much part of the city's look (visible in such major streets like Princess Street which is lined up with 18th cent. buildings covered by black smoke). While attending a week-long librarians' convention at the University of Manchester Institute of Technology, I had plenty of spare time to roam around the city center.Central Manchester, famous for its vibrant character, is easy to get around on foot or by the excellent Metrolink tramway. At the heart of it is Piccadilly Gardens, a gardenless square that has been developed into an aesthetically charming urban space. John Rylands Library at Deansgate is perhaps Manchester's most beautiful building, a Victorian Gothic structure, with a breathtaking Reading Room, designed to look like a monastic library, and a stunning collection of early printed books and rare manuscripts (including a Gutenberg Bible and manuscripts dating back to 2000 BC). But a visit to the city will not be complete for a librarian-archivist without Chetham's, the oldest public library in UK (1421). Here Marx and Engels were regular users. The city's main administrative center is the superb Victorian Gothic town hall that dominates Albert Square, with an interior so rich in sculpture and ornate decoration. Here in its hallowed halls, the Mayor of Manchester hosted a banquet reception for the visiting librarians-archivists who attended the convention.On the way to Oxford, we spent a brief stopover in Yorkshire. The history of York is the history of England and its proud past has been beautifully preserved. For nearly 2000 years, York has been the capital of the north, and it played a central role in British history under the Romans, Saxons and Vikings. An awesome city, with a spectacular Gothic cathedral (York Minster is England's largest medieval cathedral and Yorkshire's most important historic building), medieval city walls and ruins, historic buildings, and streets well-preserved from their Medieval beginnings.Oxford (the "city of dreaming spires") is a living museum, with beautiful buildings oozing charm and a distinguished past. A city of remarkable beauty and stunning contrast, home to the academic elite, not only of Great Britain, but of the entire world. Here we stayed as guests for 3 full days at St. Hilda's College, and I was lucky to have the best room accommodation, overlooking its lovely gardens and the charming river Cherwell. On my first day, I made my way past the botanical gardens (the oldest in Britain, founded in 1621 for the study of medicinal plants), an oasis of calm, sweeping along the banks of Cherwell. Opposite the gardens is Oxford University's Magdalen College, one of the wealthiest and most beautiful of Oxford's colleges (and includes Oscar Wilde as one of its more famous students). A leisurely walk along busy High Street, through St. Aldates, to visit my favorite haunt, the churches and libraries, was like a dream come true.Oxford's first colleges were built in the 13th century, with residences for lecturers and their students. Lecturers were not allowed to marry until 1877, and women were not admitted to the university until a year later. Even then, it took another 42 years before women would be granted a degree for their four years of hard study. The largest and grandest of all of Oxford's colleges, Christ Church, is also its most famous cathedral. Tourists flock here to see not only the magnificent buildings, but to be a witness to its illustrious history and latter-day fame as a location for the Harry Potter films. It boasts of such luminaries among its alumni as Albert Einstein, philosopher John Locke, poet WH Auden, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), and 13 British prime ministers.Right in the city center are located Oxford's Bodleian Library (one of the oldest public libraries in the world, and as a copyright library, holds 8 million items on 118 miles of shelving and has seating capacity for 2500 readers) and Radcliffe Camera, just south of the Bodleian library, the quintessential Oxford landmark, and one of the city's most photographed buildings.A 13th-century chapel and the oldest medieval library in use are found in Merton College (founded in 1264). It is said that Professor JRR Tolkien spent many hours here while writing The Lord of the Rings. Other literary giants associated with the college include TS. Eliot.Shopping in Oxford means a visit to Blackwell's which stocks any book you could ever need. For knick-knacks and souvenirs, I found many interesting items at Whittards along High Street, on the way back to St. Hilda's.

Channel: Travel

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