Painted Hall Old Royal Naval College Greenwich
The Painted Hall, which is part of the Old Royal Navel College at Greenwich has been described as the finest dinning room in Europe. And having visited the place for the first time last week, it sure is an impressive building, both externally and especially the walls and the roof inside.
On numerous occasion I have stood at the viewing platform in Greenwich Park and admired the beauty of the various buildings that make up the historic Old Royal Naval College which was designed by Christopher wren and originally built as a Royal Hospital for injured seaman – it first opened in 1706 as a residential home for injured sailors, when 42 pensioners arrived and by 1814 as the the various building because usable 2,710 men occupied the site. There is a lot of history behind the Old Royal Naval College, which you can find out all about at www.oldroyalnavalcollege.org and
The painted hall was originally going to become the hospital’s dinning room and what a deserving and fitting place to eat it would have been for all those men who helped Britannia to rule the waves. James Thornhill was commissioned to paint the amazing paintings that adorn the roof and walls of The Painted Hall. It took him believe it or not 19 years to complete the job. He was paid £3 per square yard for the ceiling and £1 for the walls, a total of £6,685, which translates to £730,000 into today’s money!
Once Thornhill’s 19 year paint job was completed, The Painted Hall was deemed too grand a hall and too much of a tourist attraction for the pensioners to eat in. The old sea fairing dogs instead had to eat in the undercrofts, which ran below the Painted Hall and Chapel. Which is bit mean if you ask me!
The Painted Hall stood empty for a number of years until January 1806 when Admiral Lord Nelson, who had been killed on 21 October 1805 just as Britain had claimed victory at the Battle of Trafalgar against the combined French and Spanish fleets. After his death Nelson was eventually brought to The Painted Hall to lie in state for 3 days before his funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral. This piece of history alone makes a visit to the Old Royal Naval College a must in my mind.
After the closure of the Hospital in the 1860′s due to falling numbers, the site went onto become the Royal Naval College. At long last, by 1939 The Painted Hall was in use as dinning room on a daily basis until the Navy left the building in 1988. The Greenwich Foundation have been the custodians of the The Painted Hall and the various other buildings that make up the Old Royal Naval College ever since.
Hopefully one of these days I will get invited to a special event at The Painted Hall and have the opportunity to eat in the most amazing dinning hall I have ever clapped my eyes on. I’m available any evening, 7 days of the week for an invite…
It should be crime to visit Greenwich and not go and see the Painted Hall, it is a truly magnificent building, which is worthy of your attention, as is the Chapel which sits opposite it. Go and marvel at the wonderful paintings that adorn the walls and ceilings that took Thornhill 19 painstaking years to complete.
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Fantastic isn’t it – it’s been used as a movie set on many occasions too – the Golden Compass being one of them I think
That is just gorgeous! I must make my way back to Greenwich.
The old guy on the door of the Chapel had some good stories about some of the movies that have been filmed in the Painted Chapel. I wish I could have hung around for a bit longer to listen to him, but I was on a mission…