This museum is one of the most important of all the British museums, for it is a unique celebration of the history of the British people as an island race. It has recently under-gone a massive multi-million pound face lift to celebrate the Millennium and offers every member of the family a fascinating time exploring the exploits of our daring seafaring heroes
Many relics of England's long seafaring traditions are kept at Greenwich. These range from the delightful Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea-clipper from an era when life at sea was much more perilous than it is now, to the more modern Gypsy Moth IV, the small ketch in which took Sir Francis Chichester into the history books following his epic first ever single handed circumnavigation of the world in 1966-67. Francis Chichester was knighted close to this spot by Queen Elizabeth II using the same sword used by Queen Elizabeth I used to knight Sir Francis Drake.
The museum tells the story of these two men and of Lord Nelson, whose epic life and death are portrayed by the use of hi-tech visual displays, artefacts, works of art including exceptional paintings, and ships models. There is even a dramatic animated version of the Battle of Trafalgar, Cape St.Vincent, Battle of the Nile and the Battle of Copenhagen. Almost every detail of his life is featured, even down to the time of his affair with the married Emma Hamilton which began during his time in Naples between 1798 and 1800.
Everywhere you look something vivid captures the imagination, this is a real treasure trove of shipping history with the sea as a dazzling backdrop. In Neptune's Court, under a great glass roof you can see everything from Royal barges used for centuries to ferry the Kings and Queens of England up and down the River Thames to the less illustrious Greenpeace capsules.
A mine of information is imparted on storey-boards, and there is an almost unending supply of unique documents and memorabilia. Indeed, it is as though everything here has been designed to satisfy the most inquisitive mind occupied, and those with a thirst for knowledge reap a rich reward, for the National Maritime Museum is unique, worthy of its billing as "The largest and best Maritime Museum in the World" for this it truly is.
For children visiting the museum there is no entrance fee, the main entrance has now moved to the front of the building, it is easily marked out by two buoys flanking the magnificent doorway.
The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich is now a World Heritage Site. At the museum you will find a shop for souvenirs and in Greenwich itself you will find shops, pubs, and a good selection of restaurants, some with a nautical flavour!
in the county of Greater London
(0.1 miles, 0.2 km)The might of british sea-power and the historic town of Greenwich are inseparable. Two famous English sea-faring vessels are here, one is the Cutty Sark, a famous old clipper that shipped tea from China in the 19th-century, and the other, from the 20th-century is Gypsy Moth 1V, sailed round the world by Sir Francis Chichester...
in the county of Greater London
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The Cutty Sark is the only surviving extreme clipper in the world. She now sits in dry dock and is one of the great sights of.....
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