Oxford University Museum – Didactic Columns

A few days ago I posted some stereo images of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. It sits at the back of the University Museum, shown here. The building was by Deane and Woodward and the columns that surround the ground and first floor corridors that overlook the main glazed quadrangle exhibit geological samples (of rock) from around the British Isles and Ireland. The column capitals are carved, on the ground floor as flora and on the first floor as fauna (by O’Shea and Whelan), so the columns and their attendant capitals and bases (which reveal the name of the type of rock on the corridor side but only a number on the quadrangle side) are both the fabric of the building and exhibits.