15th century paint job

Just kidding—I'm sure it's been touched up in the last 200 years. This is part of the covered walkway around all four sides of the Cloister. There are some of the typical Oxford death-defying stairs without railings that presumably lead to student rooms, and a door intriguingly labeled the Cardinal Wolsey Room (he was also a Magdalen alum) which Google informs me is just a private dining room.

There is something endearing about how much bad paint and shabby furniture lie underneath the dreaming spires of the Oxford colleges.