Few cities have a greater concentration of significant architecture than Oxford. Within a city of only 130,000 inhabitants there are important buildings, many of them of great beauty, from every period from the eleventh century down to the present. Geoffrey Tyack chronicles the architectural development of Oxford-both University and City-from its origins to the late twentieth century, explaining the idiosyncracies of Oxford's architectural history, and placing the buildings within their historical context. His approach is chronological, and his emphasis on what can actually be seen. Although many books have been written about individual buildings and various aspects of Oxford architecture, no book of this kind has been published for many years.