Christ Church College

Christ Church is the largest and most visited of Oxford's 38 colleges, and the one most people come to Oxford to see. It was founded by Cardinal Wolsey in 1524 and refounded by Henry VIII in 1546, which is why it has the royal connection that shaped its unusual status as both a college and a cathedral church. The Great Hall (GBP 18 entry to Christ Church, includes the hall and the cathedral) is the room that production designer Stuart Craig used as the direct model for the Great Hall in the Harry Potter films: the long tables, the high table at the end, the portraits of past students on the walls, the hammer-beam ceiling. Tom Tower, designed by Christopher Wren in 1681, stands above the main gate on St Aldate's. The cathedral doubles as the college chapel and contains a 12th-century Norman nave and the St Frideswide shrine. Christ Church Meadow runs south of the college buildings: 100 acres of meadow and riverside walk where Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson, mathematics lecturer at Christ Church) walked with Alice Liddell, daughter of the college dean, whose conversations with Dodgson became the direct source material for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The meadow is free to enter from St Aldate's or through the War Memorial Garden. The college is open to visitors daily (hours vary by term and academic calendar, check the website before visiting). The Picture Gallery (GBP 5 separate ticket, 200 works including Tintoretto, Veronese, and Leonardo drawings) is in the Canterbury Quadrangle.