Sheldonian Theatre
| Sheldonian Theatre | |
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Sheldonian Theatre. View from Broad Street
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 Location within Oxford city centre
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| General information | |
| Type | Academic theatre |
| Location | Broad Street, Oxford |
| Coordinates | 51°45′16″N 1°15′18″W / 51.754389°N 1.255075°W |
| Construction started | 1664 |
| Completed | 1669 |
| Owner | University of Oxford |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Christopher Wren |
Coordinates: 51°45′16″N 1°15′18″W / 51.754389°N 1.255075°W
The Sheldonian Theatre, located in Oxford, England, was built from 1664 to 1669 after a design by Christopher Wren for the University of Oxford. The building is named after Gilbert Sheldon, chancellor of the University at the time and the project's main financial backer. It is used for music concerts, lectures and University ceremonies, but not for drama until 2015 when the Christ Church Dramatic Society staged a production of The Crucible.
What came to be known as the Sheldonian Theatre was Wren's second work and was commissioned by Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury. With the triumph of the Restoration and with it the Church of England, Dean Fell, Vice-Chancellor of the University, sought to revive a project proposed in the 1630s by the late William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury: a separate building whose sole use would be graduation and degree ceremonies.
In the past these increasingly rowdy occasions had taken place in the university's church of St. Mary-the-Virgin-on-High. "The notion that 'sacrifice is made equally to God and Apollo', in the same place where homage was due to God and God alone, was as repugnant to Fell and his colleagues as it had been to Laud"; with this in mind they approached the Archbishop of Canterbury Gilbert Sheldon, for his blessing, his assistance, and a donation.
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