CHRIST Church in Oxford is encouraging people to find out more about the cathedral and college by opening doors in an online advent calendar.

There will be a wealth of information revealed about the Oxford University college and place of worship, as staff look forward to giving online readers an insight into such a historic location.

Every day during Advent, running from today until December 24, the calendar will feature a different door located somewhere in the college or in the cathedral.

While some of the 24 doors may be familiar to the city’s residents, others are much less well known– and they all come with captivating stories offering an unparalleled insight into the popular location off St Aldate's.

Links in the Advent Doors social media posts will take readers to blog posts that reveal the secrets that lie behind them.

Eleanor Sanger, college communications officer, said: “It’s been great working with the cathedral to develop this project and reveal some of the fascinating stories that lie behind our walls.

“Christ Church is full of curiosities.

“There’s a huge wealth of history in our buildings, as well as some incredible people who have called Christ Church home over the centuries, so we’re really excited to be able to give people a sneak peek at some of the things that make Christ Church a unique place.”

The stories shed light on some of the characters who have lived in or been inspired by Christ Church, from monarchs and politicians to saints and writers, alongside clues about the rich histories of the buildings themselves, from the 12th century cathedral to the 20th century picture gallery.

In the gallery there is currently an exhibition entitled Transfer, focusing on motifs and ideas in 16th and 17th century drawings.

Those using the online calendar can expect a number of surprises along the way - doors that are not really doors, treasures lying behind seemingly innocuous entrances, and rooms and buildings that have changed use over nearly 1,000 years of history.

Follow @ChCh_Oxford and @ChChCathedralOx on Twitter and like ‘Christ Church, Oxford’ on Facebook to open a new door of Christ Church’s advent calendar every day from today.

The posts will be published on social media each morning and will link to articles on the Christ Church Blog, where there will be full blog posts on each of the doors in the series chch.ox.ac.uk/blog

The foundation of Christ Church Oxford includes the College, Cathedral and Cathedral Choir School.

Charles Dodgson, a maths don at Christ Church wrote the bestselling children’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865 and the sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass, after meeting Alice Liddell, the daughter of a Dean.