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Why was the Sheldonian Theatre built at the University of Oxford?
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Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren, detail of an oil painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1711; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
The Sheldonian Theatre was built at the University of Oxford as a gift from Bishop Gilbert Sheldon of London to his former university. It was designed to serve as a theatre in the classical sense, specifically intended to be a venue where university ceremonies would be performed.1