The Old Library at Queens’ College was opened to the public for a few weeks in February and early March.

This beautiful place is still equipped with its original medieval lecterns. The floor and fittings are made of dark wood, making the library very atmospheric.

I love the old volumes that surround you in the library.

The room has been continuously used as a library for the past 560 years. It’s a particularly tranquil space, and you can almost taste the history in the air around you.

The back wall of the Old Library is covered with books, as are the adjoining walls.

The exhibition showcased Jewish thought over the centuries, and displayed some early maps as well as texts hundreds of years old.

The Old Library has stained glass windows that came from a nearby Carmelite friary. The friary was a neighbour of the college during the late medieval period.

The Old Library at Queens’ College is one of Cambridge’s true hidden gems. It’s a wonderful environment to spend time in, if you like libraries or historic spaces.

It’s not generally open to the public, and I feel lucky to have gone in to visit the college at a time when the exhibition happened to be on. I’ll be keeping up to date with any other occasions when the Old Library is open to visitors, for a chance to go back again.