From 1512 till the mid-18th century, Greenwich was the headquarters for the British navy. First established underneath King Henry VIII, the Royal Navy grew to become key to Britain’s success as a nation in commerce and warfare alike, and its base was all the time Greenwich, now a UNESCO World Heritage website. Among the many noteworthy sights is the Queen’s Home, constructed for Anne of Denmark (1574–1619) and designed by the so-called father of British structure, Inigo Jones. (And when you strategy from the river, you’ll see the exceptional symmetry within the buildings that flank the home, one in all Christopher Wren’s traditional feats of architectural marvel.) As soon as a royal residence, the Queen’s Home now holds a wonderful assortment of artwork, together with the 1588 Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I sitting in regal splendor earlier than scenes exhibiting the ruined Spanish Armada and the victorious British fleet. You can even see Nineteenth-century grasp J.M.W. Turner’s largest canvas, The Battle of Trafalgar (1822), solely lately placed on show.
However that’s just one small a part of the Greenwich advanced. Don’t miss England’s reply to the Sistine Chapel on the Outdated Royal Naval Faculty: the Painted Corridor (1707–26), James Thornhill’s masterpiece, reopened to the general public in 2019 after main conservation. For a complete historical past of Britain’s maritime exploits, from crusing the seven seas and polar exploration to warfare and world commerce, go to the Nationwide Maritime Museum, whose highlights embrace the Trafalgar Coat, the uniform that Admiral Horatio Nelson wore on his deathbed in 1805. Then go to the Cutty Sark, the quickest crusing ship of its time. Inbuilt Scotland in 1869, she traded tea from China with a typical spherical journey taking simply seven to 9 months. After which, to tie the entire website collectively, head to the enduring onion dome of the Royal Observatory, the place time was first standardized, in 1884. Step on the prime meridian line, free of charge, or purchase advance tickets to see the Nice Equatorial Telescope, put in in 1893.
