The college library at St. Antony’s used to be a chapel. It is now a beautiful library - the frescoes have been preserved, though, which makes for some very distracting reading, while you focus on the beautiful artwork on the walls.There is something socialist about turning a chapel into a library, and it goes well with the history of the College as a popular spot for those who wanted to study Rusology during the Cold War. While in other colleges, chapels are used to attract tourists and are therefore restored to their original shape, ours is quite utilitarian in nature and quite exclusive on top of all that.

The odd thing about the library, and St. Antony’s Library is no exception to the other 38 college libraries in Oxford, is that you need to swipe your student card to be able to enter. I think I blogged about this before - How strange it felt to have exclusive access to a building that should normally accomodate everyone. Everyone, that is, who has been granted access to use the facilities, and everyone who is a member of St. Antony’s College.

The other strange thing about the Library is that it contains, in the collection, donated books from the personal libraries of some of the most well-known international relations thinkers, Hedley Bull being one example. It’s a little breathtaking to randomly find books signed by Bull, especially since he is put on a pedestal in the English school of IR. I feel as if these should be put in a glass case somewhere, so the ink and notes on the inside don’t fade away.

I do like the chapel-turned-into-a-library idea, even if I’m constantly distracted by Biblical scenes on the wall that I hadn’t noticed before.