Christ Church - Oxford, UK

The Cathedral :   Much of this ancient priority church was rebuilt between 1170 and 1190.  The Cathedral used to extend towards the space now occupied by Tom Quad.  Wolsey knocked down three bays of the nave to make way for his grand college.

Thankfully, the rest of the ancient twelfth century church was spared.  It is unique in being not only the diocesan Cathedral but also the college chapel for Christ Church.

The Jonah Window (Abraham van Linge, 1630's) is of great interest because only the figures of Jonah                                   is made of stained glass.  The rest of the window consists of small panels of                                             painted glass, showing the city of Nineveh in minute detail.

In the North Transept, the St Michael Window (Clayton & Bell, 1870) is the Cathedral's largest window.  It contains Victorian glass showing the Archangel Michael leading his army of angel to defeat the devil, who is depicted as a dragon beneath St Michael's feet.  The window  illustrates a scene from Revelation, the final book in the Bible.

The 'Watching Loft'  dating from the 1500s, is thought to be either a Chantry Chapel or a Watching Loft, and is an exquisite example of medieval woodwork.

Near the High Altar you will find the Bishop's seat, the sign that this is the mother church of the Oxford Diocese.

The vaulted ceiling above you is the chief architectural glory of the Cathedral.  Its beautiful ribs splay out from 12 stone lanterns which appear to hang miraculously in mid-air, in the centre of the vault small interconnecting ' lierne' ribs create eight-pointed stars, forming an image of heaven high above the Cathedral.

The South Transept contains the Becket window (c.1320)  This medieval window is the oldest in the Cathedral, and contains a rare panel showing the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Becket, who died at Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.  Becket is kneeling between a monk and the four knights who murdered him.   The panel was defaced i the sixteenth century in order to protect it from Henry V111's
orders to destroy all images of Thomas Becket.  The original face of Becket is now missing.

The Cloister

The Cloister, like the Cathedral, is part of the original Priory of St Frideswide, which stood here before the college was built.  Human remains from the time of Si Frideswide (the eighth century AD) were found in the central plot.  The olive tree ( a traditional symbol of peace) and the fountain are contemporary additions to the Cloister and mark the threshold of the Cathedral's sacred space.

Tom Quad - North Corner

Imagine that the raised walkway around this Great Quadrangle was roofed in, to form an enormous cloister.  This was Cardinal Wolsey's plan, but it was never completed.  The arch-shapes around the walls and protruding bases are all that remain.  Wolsey also intended to build a new chapel for his
college along the north side remained completely open with townspeople and cattle passing by on a muddy lane.

Peckwater Quad

In contrast to the Gothic splendour of Tom Quad lies the classical sophistication of Peckwater Quad.
These elegant eighteenth century buildings stand on the site of a medieval inn, which was run by the Peckwater family.  Undergraduate accommodation is provided in the symmetrical buildings occupying three sides of the quad.  On the fourth side is a magnificent library.  As students live and study here, visitors are requested to be as quiet as possible and not to enter the buildings.

The Picture Gallery

Do not forget to visit Christ Church Picture Gallery when you are here.  It is one of the most significant private collections of Old Master paintings and drawings in Great Britain.  The collection
is housed in an award-winning modern building (Powell & Moy 1968)  - believed by many to be one of the most exciting spaces of twentieth century architecture in Oxford.  The building and its contents (Van Dyke, Tintoretto, Veronese, Caracci, Uppi and many, many more) are somewhat hidden and, as in
Alice in Wonderland (in whose garden the gallery is situated).  only reveal themselves from within.
Entering the gallery is almost like going through the rabbit hole, one has to pass through a corridor under a Georgian building to resurface in a different world - one of art, light and tranquillity.

Christ Church
St Aldates
Oxford  OX1, 1DP

Tel:   01865 286165

E mail:   cathedral@chch.ox.ac,uk