Old Royal Naval College

The buildings began in 1696 as the Royal Hospital for Seamen, a naval equivalent of Chelsea, designed by Christopher Wren with Nicholas Hawksmoor and John Vanbrugh and laid out in four blocks split down the middle because Queen Mary refused to have her view of the river from the Queen's House blocked. It became the Royal Naval College in 1873 and the university took over in 1998. The Painted Hall was intended as the pensioners' dining room and was decorated by James Thornhill between 1707 and 1726, covering ceiling and walls with an allegory of Protestant succession and British sea power; it is often called the finest baroque interior in England. A cleaning completed in 2019 removed centuries of grime.

History

The site was first Bella Court, built by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, renamed the Palace of Placentia when it passed to the Crown in the 15th century and rebuilt by Henry VII as Greenwich Palace, birthplace of Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I. The palace fell into disrepair in the Civil War and was pulled down in 1694, apart from an unfinished building by John Webb, which was completed for the new Royal Hospital for Seamen, designed by Christopher Wren and built between 1696 and 1712 with a long axial view kept from the Queen's House to the river. The hospital ended in 1869, the Royal Naval College trained officers here from 1873 to 1998, and the buildings are the centrepiece of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Old Royal Naval College).

The main sights

• The Painted Hall - Thornhill's nineteen-year ceiling and wall scheme.
• The split layout - four blocks parted to preserve the Queen's House river view.
• The chapel - a rebuilt neoclassical interior after a 1779 fire.
• The riverside frontage - the ensemble seen from the Thames path or the far bank.

When to go

Year-round; the grounds and chapel are free and open daily. The Painted Hall is ticketed with a valid-for-a-year pass. Greenwich is busiest at weekends when the market runs.

Things to know

The Painted Hall charges while everything else is free, which catches people out. Parts of the site are a working university and closed. Films are shot here regularly, closing areas at short notice.

Nearby

The Cutty Sark, National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory are all in Greenwich.

Key facts