Welcome to Historic Cambridge

Welcome

Cambridge is famed for the excellence of its university and celebrated for the magnificence of King's College Chapel, whose Christmas carol services are broadcast worldwide. It is renowned too for the beauty of its colleges, which for over seven centuries have had wealth and skill lavished on them, a succession of distinguished architects contributing to one of the finest collections of buildings in Europe.

The tree-lined Cam curves along the backs of the ancient colleges, providing an unrivalled setting for them, and punting along the river is a particularly enjoyable way to experience the extraordinary.

Peterhouse

is the oldest college in the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has 284 undergraduates, 130 graduate students and 45 fellows, making it the smallest College in Cambridge, except for the specialized colleges that admit only women, graduates, or mature students, some of which are smaller because of their specialized membership. The modern name of the college does not include the word "college", but rather is denoted solely by "Peterhouse".

The Senate House

of the University of Cambridge in the centre of the city is used mainly for degree ceremonies and formerly for meetings of the Council of the Senate. It was built in 1722-1730 by architect James Gibbs in a neo-classical style using Portland stone.

At the end of the academic year, class lists for most degrees are posted up on the outer wall of the building. The results of Part II and Part III of the Mathematical Tripos, however, are read out to the waiting students from the balcony of the Senate House, after which piles of class-lists are thrown to the ground like confetti in a time-honoured manner.

The Wren Library

is the library of Trinity College in Cambridge. It was designed by Christopher Wren in 1676 and completed in 1684. It is credited as being one of the first libraries to be built with large windows to give comfortable light levels to aid readers.

The library is a single large room built over an open colonnade on the ground floor of Nevile's Court. The floor of the library proper within the upper storey lies several feet below the external division between the two storeys, reconciling the demands of use with the harmony of architectural proportion. This device prefigures the inner, middle and outer domes at St Paul's Cathedral.

The Holy Sepulchre

commonly known as the "Round Church", is a church in Cambridge, England. 11th century Crusaders to the Holy Land would have seen the Holy Sepulchre, located near the centre of Jerusalem. It was a round church supported on eighteen columns or piers with an ambulatory around the perimeter on the west of the church, and the well attested site of Christ's tomb at the centre. There would have been four apses at each of the cardinal points, and on the east side there would have been a facade, so that the east apse was accessible directly from the rotunda.