Over 4000 free audio and video lectures, seminars and teaching resources from Oxford University.
Skip to Content Skip to Navigation

Episode 2 – 'God’s Own Museum': The Façade

Loading Video...
Duration: 0:08:46 | Added: 01 Oct 2020
In episode 2 of Temple of Science, we take a closer look at the decoration on the outside of the Museum building, which captures the vitality of nature, presented in Victorian Oxford as the study of God’s creation.

From the outset, Oxford University Museum wanted to teach the principles of natural history through art as well as science. In this episode we take a close look at the museum’s façade. The carvings round the windows, incorporating designs by John Ruskin and carved by the brilliant Irish stonemason and sculptor James O’Shea, revel in the vitality of nature, while the decorations round the main entrance remind us that, for the scientists in Victorian Oxford, natural history was the study of God’s creation.

People:
Copy and paste this HTML snippet to embed the audio or video on your site: