Category Archives: architecture

Happy 60th Birthday to the LawBod

On 17th October 1964 the Bodleian Law Library formally opened its doors… 60 years on, the library still looks remarkably similar to the day it opened! Readers still enter via the original wood and glass doors and step into the reading room which is filled with light from the skylight above. The desks, chairs and lamps… Read More »

Decentring the Bodleian Law Library at Christmas with the help of Sokurov’s Russian Ark

My Christmas film is Russian Ark.  In one lingering ‘take’, the film leads us through the Hermitage in a series of dreamlike sequences, like the thread that guided Theseus through the labyrinth, until we arrive not at the Minotaur, but at a magnificent Romanov Ball. The film brilliantly negotiates 300 years of history as the… Read More »

The St Cross Building and its architects

As we begin preparations for our participation in “Oxford Open Doors” in September, we realize that many people may not be aware of the commemorative book that we published for the 50th anniversary of the Law Library last year.  The book included an architectural introduction which is reproduced below. The entire book (Celebrating 50 Years… Read More »