About City

Oxford is a city in Great Britain, capital of the Oxfordshire County. It is situated on the banks of theriverofThames, whose segment within the city borders is called The Isis. According to the data of 2008, the population of the city was 153,900 people, 30 thousand of them were students.

Oxford is crossed by the routes London – Birmingham (distance from the capital of Great Britain is90 km, from Birmingham -110 km). The city is also connected by car ways with the largest cities ofEnglandandWales.

By railway, Oxford may be reached from London, Bournemouth, Worcester, Birmingham, and Coventry. Before 1967, there was also a connection between two famous University citiesOxfordandCambridge, but it was shut down afterwards, though the works at its revival have been under way now.

For the first time, Oxford was mentioned in the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle“ of 912: At that time, its place was occupied by the St Frideswide’s Nunnery.

The exact date of the University’s foundation is not clear: There are some data that the education has been provided here since 1096, whereas a real status of the University city was obtained by Oxford in the course of reigning of Henry II Curtemantle (1133-1189). The University of Oxford gave more than 50 Noble prize winners to the world. In different times, its colleges were attended by Lewis Carroll, Oscar Wilde, Percy Shelley, Adam Smith, Johnathan Swift, Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi. The largest college of the University is Christ Church, which was erected in 1546 upon Order by Henry VIII and whose bell has been tolling 101 times (ie number of the monks who founded it) daily since its first day. 

Oxford’s inhabitants honour the history of the city and preserve its legacy: The majority of buildings have been remained virtually unchanged here since Middle Ages. In the city, there are a lot of architectural monuments and sights – the Ashmolean Museum, which was founded in 1683 and show works by Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael; Radcliffe Camera – a round building with a cupola, which used to be a reading hall of the Bodlian Library counting about 2 million books, and others.

Oxford is also famous for its entertainment opportunities, and not only for theatre performances or festivals but also for world-known pubs like, eg, The Eagle and Child, which was established in 1650 and where the meetings of the Literary Discussion Group “The Inklings” attended by J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis took place.

Twin city of Perm since 1995.

www.oxford.gov.uk