Things to see in Oxford

The daddy of all Oxford colleges in the eyes of most, Christ Church has a distinguished history. The college itself was actually founded by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525, and its glittering pan-generational alumni include the likes of Lewis Carroll and WH Auden, as well as a number of the country’s prime ministers. More recently, it’s become famed for the fact that its Great Hall hosted Hogwarts banquets in the Harry Potter films. Its gate tower – known as Tom Tower – is one of the most recognisable parts of the Oxford skyline. Oxford Cathedral is also on the college’s grounds.
 

With an exceptional programme of installations, exhibitions and education and community events, Modern Art Oxford has earned itself an international reputation. The visual art gallery has hosted major presentations by artists like Marina Abramovic, Yoko Ono, Ed Ruscha, Tracey Emin and Jake and Dinos Chapman, and there are constantly thought-provoking exhibitions being held. The venue also puts on talks, children's activities, live music and special events.

Oxford's ‘hidden' castle is something of an incongruous sight – as you head down New Road from the town centre, you’re greeted by an enormous grassy mound that looks to have been transplanted direct from the countryside. Behind this motte, the walled site itself was a place of incarceration from its beginnings in 1071 until the closure of HM Prison in 1996. It is now open to the public for the first time, and offers a dramatic visitor centre sharing secrets of the preaching, teaching, violence, executions and even romantic episodes played out here from Norman times to the grim days of the 18th century.

The Ashmolean Museum was established in 1683 and is the oldest public museum in the world. It houses the university's highly impressive collections of art, archeology and antiquities, which pretty much span human history from across the world. The History of Science Museum has a wide-ranging collection of historic scientific instruments (over 10,000 objects), and it is housed in the world's oldest surviving purpose-built museum building, the Old Ashmolean on Broad Street. The Natural History Museum has been called a ‘cathedral to nature', and it does have a vast collection of items from the natural world, with exhibits ranging from rocks and stones to dinosaurs and the remains of the extinct Mauritius dodo. With over one million objects in its possession, the Pitt Rivers Museum, founded in 1884 by General Pitt Rivers, covers the field of human anthropology comprehensively. The displays of amulets, masks, beads, pots, tools and weapons are housed in a splendid Victorian building. For anyone interested in music, the Bate Collection is a treasure trove. It is England's most comprehensive collection of European woodwind, brass and percussion instruments and has 1,500 exhibits.