The National Maritime Museum, Queen's House and Royal Naval College from the air.
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| The National Maritime Museum, Queen's House and Royal Naval College from the air. |
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| The main entrance to the National Maritime Museum. © NMM |
The other buildings, originally school wings (1807–76), were converted over a longer period and largely at the expense of the Museum's principal benefactor, Sir James Caird (1864–1954).
Sir James's collection, together with the Greenwich Hospital Collection – mainly paintings and naval relics – and the collections of the former Royal Naval Museum (both transferred from Royal Naval College, Greenwich), formed the core of the original assets.
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| The opening of the National Maritime Museum by King George VI, 27 April 1937. © NMM |
The Museum was opened by King George VI on 27 April 1937. The Royal Observatory became part of the NMM in the 1950s with Flamsteed House and what is now called Meridian Building being fully opened to the public in 1967.
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| The Queen's House from the south-east. |
From just before Anne's death in 1619 the House remained unfinished and thatched over at ground-floor level until 1629.
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| Queen Anne of Denmark (1574-1619). © NMM |
Inigo Jones then completed it by about 1635 for Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. He added a single first-floor central bridge joining the two halves, over the road. It was richly decorated with paintings and sculpture.
During the Civil War and Commonwealth period (1642–60) the House was used as a government residence.
In 1661–62 Charles II altered the top floor to a square plan by adding an east and west bridge rooms for further but brief use by his mother, Henrietta Maria.
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| Inigo Jones's Queen's House. © NMM |
In 1806 it was handed over to the Royal Naval Asylum, later the Royal Hospital School, and extended by colonnades and new wings for school use.
After the School moved in 1933 it was restored and opened as part of the National Maritime Museum in 1937.