The Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College Greenwich

Visit The Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College Greenwich with Go City®

• With us, there are no entry fees on the day – all you've got to do is show your pass.
• Your pass includes access to the breath-taking 17th-century Painted Hall with a descriptive audio guide available in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, German and Japanese. 
• Join regular tours telling the story of this magnificent riverside estate.
• Your pass also gives you access to the Greenwich Museum in the Visitor Centre and other historic sites on the estate.

Discover 600 years of history at the Old Royal Naval College, the 17-acre riverside estate at the center of the Greenwich Maritime UNESCO World Heritage Site, which offers a door into British History, you won’t get anywhere else. Plus spot the sites where your favourite shows were filmed, the estate is also a popular filming location and features in The Crown, Les Miserables, Thor: The Dark World, Cruella, Bridgerton and many more. 

Award-winning site tours are included with your pass and depart hourly from the visitor centre throughout the day. The tour covers the Visitor Centre, the grounds and the stunning Chapel of St Peter and St Paul. You’ll hear all about the estate’s 600 years of history from a 1420s manor house, rebuilt as Greenwich Palace for Henry VII; to the commissioning of Sir Christopher Wren in 1694 for the design of a Royal Hospital for Seamen until it became the Royal Naval College in 1873.

Old Royal Naval College highlights

• The Nelson room – see where Admiral Nelson was laid in state after the Battle of Trafalgar. 
• The Painted Hall –  often referred too as the UK’s Sistine Chapel, the magnificent work of art took 19 years to complete.
• The Chapel – uncover one of Britain’s finest 18th-century interiors. 
• Greenwich Palace – glimpse the raims of the palace where Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Mary I were all born.
• The Skittles Alley – try your hand at one of the last remaining Victorian Skittle Alleys (open daily 12PM - 3PM).

Old Royal Naval College history

In 1694 the English architectural heroes Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor were approached to redesign Greenwich Palace which was at the time thought to be an eyesore. Once home to Britain’s iconic monarchs Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the medieval palace was a building project taken on by Charles II when he was restored to the throne in 1660. However as the finances of the notorious spendthrift waned, so did his enthusiasm for the redesign and as a result, only one new wing was actually built, forming what is now the eastern range of the King Charles Court.

In 1694 this wing and the grounds were donated by William III as a Royal Warrant to become a site for invalid and elderly soldiers and Wren and Hawksmoor were asked to help. Queen Mary had requested to preserve the view of the river from the Queen’s House so Wren’s final design laid out the buildings into two halves, with twin domes inspired by his recent work at St Paul’s Cathedral. It was Hawksmoor however who carried out most of the work and drew up the working designs, as Wren’s extensive commitments kept him too busy. Work finally commenced in 1696 to create the four courts, and to finish their creation which went on to house over 2,000 veterans of the Royal Navy.