The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich offers visitors the chance to explore this country’s maritime history.
Opened over 75 years ago, the museum – which is free to enter – offers visitors a wide range of nautical displays in its beautiful setting.
In 2013 a new permanent gallery dedicated to Nelson and his role as an enduring national hero. Other exhibitions include, “Traders: the East India Company and Asia”, “Voyagers: Britons and the Sea” and “Maritime London: 1700 to now”
Stunning special temporary exhibitions are put on too, which do attract an entrance price, such as the current one dedicated to JMW Turner and his paintings of the sea. Previous ones have focused on the Royal River and the photographer Ansel Adams.
Situated at the heart of the museum under its impressive domed roof is a chain coffee shop & cafe selling French themed food and drink. There’s also a brasserie overlooking Greenwich Park, adjacent to Yinka Shonibare’s Ship In A Bottle artwork which now has its permanent home at the museum after originally being installed on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.
The National Maritime Museum operates under the Royal Museums Greenwich brand, in recognition of the royal status awarded to the borough in 2012, and also in the RMG family are the Queen’s House and the old Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park.