National Maritime Museum

The museum opened in 1937 in elegant early 19th-century buildings developed around the Queen's House, which was built for Charles I's queen Henrietta Maria. Also part of the 'Maritime Greenwich' complex administered by the museum is the Royal Observatory on top of a hill in Greenwich Park. The world's Prime Meridian, it houses London's only planetarium.

On 14 July 2011 the museum unveiled its spectacular new Sammy Ofer Wing. Opening out onto Greenwich Park, its provides a new exhibition space, galleries, a library and places to eat and shop.

 

Permanent collections

The Voyagers gallery introduces the museum's vast and varied collections, which consist of over 2.5 million objects. The audio visual presentation and vitrines containing objects arranged according to human emotions associated with the sea " anticipation, love, sadness, pride, aggression and joy " encourage visitors to relate to the displays on a personal level.

These displays encompass maritime art and portraits, maps, models of ships, scientific and navigational instruments, uniforms, weapons, clocks, figureheads, and personal objects.

Whole galleries are devoted to exploration, the Atlantic slave trade and navigators. Among the highlights are Captain Cook's handwritten journals and paintings of HMS Resolution and Discovery, as well as the uniform Horatio Nelson wore at Trafalgar and his correspondence with Emma Hamilton.

Every visitor to the museum is given a 'compass card', which they can insert into units in the galleries to gather objects that will form their own virtual collection.

 

Art Funded works

Henry Nelson O'Neil's The Parting Cheer is a crowded scene depicting a ship crammed with emigrants leaving from a London quayside, focusing on the reactions of the grieving friends and families left behind on the shore.

The Art Fund has helped with the acquisition of various images and objects associated with Nelson " a purse, a tea caddy, a toothpick case. One of the most splendid is a portrait of the Vice-Admiral by Lemuel Francis Abbott, based on a sketch done while Nelson was at Greenwich.

 

Visitor information

In the new wing there is the smart 16" West Brasserie, overseen by an award-winning head chef, and a café serving British food from morning till early evening. In the shop, along with the books and designer watches, you will find plenty to keep the childen amused " telescopes, globes, stuffed polar bears and pirate outfits.