Old Royal Naval College

When Christopher Wren was commissioned by William and Mary to build a naval hospital here in 1692, he designed it in two separate halves so as not to spoil the view of the river from the Queen’s House, Inigo Jones’ miniature masterpiece to the south. Today it also frames Canary Wharf and the skyscrapers of Docklands to the north. Built on the site of the Old Palace of Placentia, where Henry VIII was born in 1491, the hospital was initially intended for those wounded in the victory over the French at La Hogue. In 1869 the building was converted to a Naval College. Now even the navy has left and the premises are home to the University of Greenwich and Trinity College of Music. Two main rooms are open to the public. In the King William Building, the Painted Hall is one of Europe’s greatest banquet rooms and is covered in decorative ‘allegorical Baroque’ murals by artist James Thornhill, who also painted the cupola of St Paul’s Cathedral. The mural above the Lower Hall show William and Mary enthroned amid symbols of the Virtues. Beneath William’s feet you can see the defeated French king Louis XIV grovelling with a furled flag in hand. Up a few steps is the Upper Hall where, on the western wall, George I is depicted with his family. In the bottom right-hand corner Thornhill drew himself into the picture, pointing towards his work. Off the Upper Hall is the Nelson Room, originally designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, then used as a smoking room and now open to the public. In January 1806 the brandy-soaked (for embalming purposes, of course) body of the great naval hero lay in state here before his funeral at St Paul’s. Today the room contains a plaster replica of the statue atop Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Sq plus other memorabilia, including lots of hospital silver. Look to the courtyard through the window; the cobbles form an outline of the Union Flag (Union Jack). A 90-minute guided tour from the Painted Hall will take you to places not normally open to the public: the Jacobean undercroft of the former Placentia palace and the 140-year-old Victorian Skittle Alley, featuring enormous hand-carved wooden bowling balls and pins. The chapel in the Queen Mary Building opposite the Painted Hall is decorated in a lighter rococo style. The eastern end of the chapel is dominated by a painting by the 18th-century American artist Benjamin West showing The Preservation of St Paul after Shipwreck at Malta. It’s certainly a beautiful room, but is more famous for its organ and acoustics. If possible come on the first Sunday of the month, when there’s a free 50-minute organ recital at 3pm, or time your visit for sung Eucharist at 11am on Sunday.