oscar baedecker

(esculturas situadas na torre do relógio do Magdalen College, Oxford. As esculturas foram esculpidas entre 1492 e 1505)


"...Oxford, where the real and the unreal jostle in the streets; where North Parade is in the south and South Parade is in the north, where Paradise is lost under a pumping station;(1) where the river mists have a solvent and vivifying effect on the stone of the ancient buildings, so that the gargoyles of Magdalen College climb down at night and fight with those from Wykeham, or fish under the bridges, or simply change their expressions overnight; Oxford, where windows open into other worlds..."

Oscar Baedecker, The Coasts of Bohemia" (2)

(1) The old houses of Paradise Square were demolished in order to make an office block, in fact, not a pumping station. But Baedecker, for all his wayward charm, is a notoriously unreliable guide.

(2) BAEDECKER, Oscar apud PULLMAN, Phillip - Lyra's oxford. 2ª edição. London: Corgi, 2007. ISBN 978-0-552-55751-1. p. [5].