The dreamy spires and the cobbled streets of the city of Oxford belong to another period, of romanticism, escapism and wonder. Behind the walls of the university colleges lie years of knowledge, bound in press or simmering at the nib of a biro. Tolkien, Lewis and more recently Rowling and Pullman were inspired by the cities otherworldly aurora, and dreamt up mythical lands of magical quality. But beyond the borders of books, the city houses its dreams in other venues.
Beneath the rare spires dedicated to science, one can find all manner of objects to set your mind racing. The only difference is that these come from our planet, equal in its infinite wonderment. Start by following the footprints of a long vanished giant lizard up to the oak door, before stepping into the great hall of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Home to ammonites and zorillas housed beneath a canopy of glass and steel, here dreams and reality unite. This meeting of fact and fiction is best illustrated by the legendary debate on evolution between Thomas Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce, or perhaps more whimsically by the Dodo skeleton of Alice's wonderland.
But more lies within, by stepping through a back door to a real cabinet of curiosity: The Pitt Rivers Museum. Depository of eccentric anthropologists, it acts as a time capsule to the 1800s, with shrunken heads and feathered capes housed amongst other obscura. Once again, the visitor is transported, not to Narnia but to Oceania or Patagonia, to consider the magic of our own world.
No comments:
Post a Comment