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Historic site · Catte Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England

Bodleian Old Library

Old Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Old Library is the University of Oxford Bodleian Library's building complex around the Old Schools Quadrangle on Catte Street in central Oxford, which includes the Divinity School and Duke Humfrey's Library.

Why go

The Bodleian Library says it is spread across three buildings in the centre of Oxford, the Weston Library, the Bodleian Old Library and the Radcliffe Camera; this record is the Old Library only. Its spaces page says the Old Schools Quadrangle, commonly known as the Old Library, was built between 1613 and 1624, and that inside are the Divinity School, built from 1424 to 1488, and Duke Humfrey's Library, the oldest library room of the Bodleian. The Bodleian's visit pages say going inside the Old Library needs a Bodleian tour ticket, while visitors may walk around the quadrangle whenever its gates are open, and the Divinity School can also be seen on a self-guided ticket. The 30-minute tour page says up to half of tour tickets are released online in advance and about half are sold only on the day from the Weston Library ticket desk, online as well on off-peak days, and that tours start in the Proscholium, the entrance hall to the Divinity School. The library lists closures that change which tours run, so check its page before going.