King's College

King's College, founded by Henry VI in 1441, is the most famous of the Cambridge colleges and the one most visitors spend their money to enter. The college's front court, facing King's Parade, is a composition of the Gothic chapel (1446–1515), the Gibbs Building (1724), and later structures that together make one of the grandest enclosed spaces in English architecture.

The Backs at King's are particularly impressive — the college lawns run down to a broad sweep of the Cam backed by Clare's gardens. Entry is charged except during services. The chapel is worth every penny of the admission; the lawns and gardens are worth seeing from the river on a punt.

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Henry VI specified in his original statutes that King's College students should not mix with students of other colleges. The rule was maintained for centuries and only formally lifted in the 20th century. During that period, King's developed an unusual culture — more theatrical, more politically radical, more interested in the arts — that persisted long after the barrier fell. The college that produced E.M. Forster, Keynes, and Rupert Brooke was shaped partly by four hundred years of deliberate isolation.

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