Weekends Spring 2025

OXFORD LIFE

Oracles, Omens and Answers ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library From astrology and palm reading to weather and public health forecasting, this exhibition demonstrates the ubiquity of divination practices, and humanity’s universal desire to tame uncertainty, diagnose present problems, and predict future outcomes. Highlights include: oracle bones from Shang Dynasty China; an Egyptian celestial globe dating to around 1318; a 16th-century armillary sphere from Flanders, once used by astrologers to place the planets in the sky in relation to the Zodiac; a 19th-century illuminated Javanese almanac; and the casebooks of astrologer-physicians in 16th- and 17th-century England. The Weston Library is open from 9.00am – 5.00pm from Monday – Friday, 10.00am – 5.00pm on Saturday and 11.00am – 4.00pm on Sunday

St John’s College gardens Relish the first signs of spring in the gardens of St John’s College. Walk from St Giles through the Front Quad and the newly restored Canterbury Quad (the female heads in the spandrels between the arches represent the seven liberal arts and the seven virtues), and find yourself in over five acres of lush greenery. The garden was once formed of two groves but in the 17th century the wall between them was removed and the outer grove laid out as an unbroken lawn, flanked by trees. The central section of the garden boasts an impressive collection of camellias, blooming from February until March, and the rock garden is an alpine wonderland, originally conceived by famous botanist Reginald Farrer, with diminutive gentian, bloodroot and cyclamen. The grounds of St John’s are open to members of the public from 1.00 – 5.00pm, or until dusk in the winter

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