A world of British heritage Print E-mail
Written by Nandita Dutta, 2008   
Page 2 of 3

Small but perfectly formed Fan Museum

Among the many picturesque venues of Greenwich, the Fan Museum stands out for its contained, elegant beauty. Indeed, the expression 'small but perfectly formed' could have been coined to describe both the museum itself as well as its individual exhibits.

Housed in two Georgian buildings, it's the world's only museum devoted entirely to every aspect of fans and fan making. The Fan Museum's own collection of fans exceeds 3,500, which are on display in changing exhibitions throughout the year, together with fans on loan from other collections.

Outside, an Orangery serving afternoon tea on Tuesdays and Sundays looks on to a Japanese-style garden. The Fan Museum is one of the few Greenwich attractions that you have to pay to enter, but offering everything from an original fan painted by Gauguin to immaculate, award-winning toilets, it's well worth the £4 entry (£3 concessions).

The Fan Museum is open 11am-5pm Tuesday-Saturday and midday-5pm Sunday.

Greenwich Theatre still going strong

In Greenwich Theatre's 150 years it has played host to Victorian music hall, burlesque, concerts and ballet, and showed a mix of film and live performance as a 'picture palace'.

The theatre was closed due to bombing in the Second World War, and came close to demolition by Greenwich Council in 1962, but local support and contributions reversed its fortunes and a new theatre was established.

Since then, acting notables such as Mia Farrow, Glenda Jackson and Susannah York have trod the boards of Greenwich Theatre; it also staged the premiere of John Mortimer's A Voyage Round My Father.

Comedian and actor Max Wall had a longstanding relationship with the theatre, starring in productions of Samuel Beckett, Shakespeare and Harold Pinter. After a period of closure in the late 1990s, Greenwich Theatre reopened in 1999 and has been going strong ever since.

Royal Observatory and the Meridian Line

Of all the attractions at the Royal Observatory, without doubt the most popular is the Greenwich Meridian Line. Visitors from all over the world come to stand on the Line, which represents the Prime Meridian of the World - Longitude 0º - and divides the eastern and western hemispheres.

Since the late 19th century, the Prime Meridian at Greenwich has served as the reference line for Greenwich Mean Time, and was the official starting point for the new Millennium.

Charles II founded the Royal Observatory, appointing John Flamsteed as first Astronomer Royal with a remit was to study the heavens "so as to find out the so much-desired longitude of places for perfecting the art of navigation".

In the original Observatory building, Flamsteed House -another of Sir Christopher Wren's designs - the apartments have been refurnished in the original style, giving a feel for the astronomer's lifestyle there.

At 12.55pm every day, the red Time Ball on top of Flamsteed House rises up its mast, falling at 1pm - just as it has been doing since 1833, when it signalled the exact time to ships on the Thames.

It was also useful for the general London population, most of whom couldn't afford clocks or watches of their own and relied on public sundials for time-keeping.

At the centre of the Royal Observatory site is the Peter Harrison Planetarium, which opened in 2007. Inside the striking bronze planetarium cone, audiences can travel out into space and look back at Earth through digital laser projections - the first of their kind in Europe. 

The Royal Observatory is open daily 10am-5pm; entry is free.

Henry's deer still roam Greenwich Park

The 74 hectares (183 acres) of the oldest enclosed Royal Park still retain some of the strong formal lines of its 17th-century layout, but overall Greenwich Park is more a landscape park of the 18th century.

It's also home to a small herd of deer, which were originally introduced here by Henry VIII, a keen hunter in his youth. Rising to 45m above sea level, Greenwich Park's spectacular view of London takes in sweep of the River Thames around the Isle of Dogs, the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, the O2 and Canary Wharf tower. The Park is set to host the 2012 Olympics equestrian events.

The Wernher Collection (Ranger's House)

Bordering Greenwich Park and with the Meridien Line passing through its grounds is the Georgian villa Ranger's House, formerly the official residence of the Ranger of Greenwich Park.

Today it's home of the Wernher Collection totalling nearly 700 works of medieval and Renaissance art. Purchased by the diamond magnate Sir Julius Wernher (1850-1912), the collection includes early religious paintings, Dutch Old Masters, minute carved Gothic ivories and Renaissance bronzes.

Greenwich Market for antiques, arts and crafts

The market at Greenwich has been operating from its present location since the early 1800s. On Thursdays and Fridays, the focus is on antiques, collectables and vintage.

There are also some arts and crafts stalls, but these really come into their own on the weekend, when traders who design and make their own products are at the core of the market, along with specialist ethical importers and sellers.

Greenwich Market is open 7.30am-5.30pm on Thursday and 9.30am-5.30pm Friday-Sunday.

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