This most memorable of Oxford buildings is now the principal reading room of the nearby Bodleian Library. It was built to house the great library belonging to Dr John Radcliffe, medical adviser to Queen Anne. The concept of a rotunda came from architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, but he died before work was started in 1737 and so James Gibbs made the final design. The word camera means’chamber’ or ‘room’.*

*From the Pitkin Guide to Oxford