The circular dome and drum of the Radcliffe Camera is one of the most distinctive landmarks in Oxford, a city full of distinctive buildings.  The Camera (room) was built in 1737-49 with money bequeathed by Dr. John Radcliffe, the royal physician.  It was intended to house a new library, and designs were submitted by several leading architects.  James Gibbs, who was responsible for the St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London, won the competition with his elegant Palladian design.

The building is the earliest example in England of a circular library.  Walk into Oxford University, turn the corner into Radcliffe Square and you'll see why the Camera is one of the most admired buildings in Oxford.  Originally the library held both scientific and general books, but those collections were gradually moved to other University libraries, so that today the Camera functions as the main reading room of the Bodleian Library.  The building is not open to the public but the exterior view is more than enough to make the building worth visiting..

John Radcliffe had studied at Oxford and left much of his wealth and all of his medical books to the university.