Royal Museums Greenwich

Showcasing the very best of Royal Museums Greenwich’s collection of First and Second World War art, this new display includes visually arresting and moving portraits, battle scenes, and depictions of everyday life during conflict.

Charged with the task of revealing a ‘truth’ that went beyond the simple recording of events, official war art served the purposes of commemoration, instruction, documentation and propaganda as well as raising morale at home and at the front.

War Artists at Sea features paintings and works on paper and consists of a rolling programme of displays throughout 2014. Artists on display include: Leslie Cole, Eric Ravilious, Richard Eurich, Norman Wilkinson, Stephen Bone, William Dring, John Worsley, and Charles Wheeler.

Admission

Please check admission charges before visiting.

Website

http://www.​rmg.​co.​uk

Explore the history of satellite navigation, from the birth of the idea of artificial satellites in fiction to the launch of the ground breaking European Galileo satellite-navigation system in 2014.

Discover the links between satellite and astronomical navigation and consider how ‘satnav’ has changed the world.

Suitable for

• Any age

Website

http://www.rmg.co.uk/starstosatellites

Five hundred years ago, a fraternity of London mariners was given a charter by Henry VIII and became the Corporation of Trinity House - with instructions to improve the safety of navigation on the Thames.

Since then, Trinity House has looked after pilotage, buoys, beacons and lightships and has become the Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and the Channel Islands. The work of Trinity House over the last 500 years has prevented countless shipwrecks and immense loss of life, and its employees have shown great skill, bravery and endurance.

While Trinity House’s aims have remained constant its methods of achieving them have changed dramatically as new technology is adopted and developed.

This small gallery displays objects and stories from throughout the organisation’s history as well as looking to the future as Trinity House continues to work ‘for the benefit and safety of all mariners’.

Website

http://www.​rmg.​co.​uk

Open from 11 April 2014–4 January 2015, Longitude Punk’d at the Royal Observatory will celebrate the creations of wacky inventors, star-gazing scientists and extremely elegant explorers of the 18th century. Royal Museums Greenwich has commissioned eight UK steampunk artists to create works inspired by the technical inventions that were presented to the Board of Longitude between 1714 and 1828.

To coincide with Longitude Punk'd at the Royal Observatory and Ships, Clocks & Stars at the National Maritime Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich and Jurassic London will be publishing Irregularity, an anthology of original short fiction inspired by the 18th-century quest to impose humanity's order on nature's chaos.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Admission

Please check website for ticket prices.

Website

http://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/longitude-punkd

Rozanne Hawksley is regarded as one of the UK's great textile art innovators. At once poignant and powerful, her work explores the nature and meaning of the commemoration and memorialization of war, considering the impact of conflict on combatants, family, friends and ultimately the nation.

Rozanne Hawksley: War and Memory examines remembrance, representation and memory in the apposite setting of the Queen’s House, which was once a school for sailors. The installation features new work alongside pieces from throughout Hawksley’s acclaimed career including: Seamstress and the Sea which refers to the artist’s maternal grandmother - a widow who sewed sailor’s collars for a living from the First World War until her death during World War Two; Prisoner, a sculpture created as a response to the work of the photographer Don McCullin; plus works from the memorials series.

Website

http://www.​rmg.​co.​uk

The race to determine longitude at sea gripped Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, becoming a focus for serious debate, popular ridicule and single-minded scientific endeavour. Valuable rewards were on offer for whoever could crack the puzzle and Ships, Clocks & Stars presents the ingenious methods and instruments designed to scoop the Board of Longitude’s prize and transform seafaring navigation forever.

The exhibition takes visitors from the coffee houses of London to the tropical climes of Cook’s Pacific voyages, exploring the industry, imagination, relationships and rivalries that shaped one of the largest scientific and technical accomplishments in history; and showing that this world-changing tale does not begin and end with Harrison’s famous timekeepers.

Admission

£8.50 combined adult ticket includes entry to both Ships, Clocks & Stars and Longitude Punk'd exhibitions.

Website

http://www.​rmg.​co.​uk

Drink tea? Love tea? Have a slightly unnatural obsession with the sepia coloured brew of the gods? Then come along to sample Doctor Geof’s Fantastical Steampunk Tea Museum.

Linking with Longitude Punk’d at the Royal Observatory, Doctor Geof (one of the exhibiting artists) showcases weird and wonderful curios and memorabilia to bring you the history of tea you didn’t know existed!

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First Tea Company, 9-10 August

Truly committed tea fans can test the strength of their brew in an enlistment fair for the little-known, but highly prized, First Tea Company, and quiz Doctor Geof on the provenance of his many tea-based artefacts.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Admission

Admission charges to Cutty Sark apply, activities FREE with entry

Website

http://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/events/steampunk-tea-museum

As part of the National Maritime Museum’s commemoration of World War One this new gallery explores the naval and maritime dimensions of that conflict.

The horrors of the Western Front have long dominated our understanding of those years, and yet the war at sea was fought on an epic scale and with terrible human loss.

Forgotten Fighters foregrounds the personal stories of those who participated through a wide range of objects including weaponry, photographs, medals and ship models; in a gallery which takes visitors from the heroism of merchant mariners to the shattering realities of naval battle, and from the Falkland Islands and the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and the North Sea.

Website

http://www.​rmg.​co.​uk

The Royal Observatory’s hugely popular Astronomy Photographer of the Year returns in 2014 to celebrate the very best in astrophotography from around the world.

The competition opens for entries in January 2014, with photographers invited to submit work to categories including ‘Earth and Space’, ‘Deep Space’ ‘Our Solar System’ and ‘Young Astronomy Photographer’. The winning images are selected by an expert judging panel which includes the Observatory’s Public Astronomer Dr. Marek Kukula.

After the awards are announced in September 2014 the winning photographs will be displayed in a special exhibition at the Royal Observatory.

The 2013 contest received a record number of entries, with over 1,200 outstanding pictures submitted from 49 countries around the globe. More details and previous winning images can be found at www.rmg.co.uk/astrophoto

Admission

Please check admission charges before visiting.

Join curator Jessica Lewis for a tour of Cutty Sark. Originally designed to last just 30 years, the famous ship is now nearly five times that age.

Come and discover the secrets of Cutty Sark’s success and learn about the recent conservation project to preserve this beautiful and unique vessel for future generations.

Suitable for

• Any age

Admission

Adult: £17.00 (including admission to ship). Members and concessions: £13.50

Website

http://www.rmg.co.uk/visit/events/curators-tours-cs-0914

Join Curator of Art, Dr Melanie Vandenbrouck, as she leads a guided tour around Royal Museums Greenwich’s fine collection of First and Second World War art, currently displayed in the exhibition.

Free but advanced booking recommended.

Suitable for

• Any age

Dangerous waters flow around our coastline, concealing shallow rocks and treacherous sandbanks. Have you got the skills to navigate your way out of danger or will you get lost in the museum? Join us for an evening to celebrate Ships, Clocks & Stars and Guiding Lights, including the ‘Motley Cruise’ game for grown-ups, the launch of sci-fi anthology ‘Irregularity’, gallery tours, curators on the gangplank and the eponymous cocktails.

Suitable for

• Not suitable for children

Admission

£5 / £4 members. Ticket includes entry to Ships, Clocks & Stars, and for members a free glass of wine or non-alcoholic alternative.

Follow the adventures of Ted as he searches the Solar System for the great big bear in the sky, visiting the sun, moon and planets. With music and song developed by Trinity College of Music in collaboration with local schools. Shows all year round.

Suitable for

• 5-6
• 0-4

Admission

£6.50 adults, £4.50 children, £5.50 concessions, £20.00 family .

Website

http://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory

Meet time-travelling Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne, or his human computer, Mary Edwards, next to the steampunk time machine in the Meridian Courtyard and find out about their life and work at Greenwich in the 18th-century. Every day throughout August at 12.00, 13.00, 14.00 and 15.00.

Suitable for

• 7-10
• 11-13
• 16-17
• 14-15
• 18+

Website

http://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory

Discover the largest science prize in history, requiring entrants to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon, move it 500 meters over the lunar surface and send video, images and data back to Earth. This new show chronicles the efforts of teams around the world as they compete in the race to win the prize. Shows everyday at 11.45, 13.15, 14.45 and 16.15 daily throughout August.

Suitable for

• 5-6
• 11-13
• 16-17
• 7-10
• 14-15
• 18+

Admission

£6.50 adults | £4.50 children | £5.50 concessions | £20.00 family.

Website

http://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory

Find out from a Royal Observatory astronomer what’s going to be in the night sky on the day of your visit and the month ahead, from stars and planets to the space station and satellites. Discover the astronomical roots of satellite navigation in the historic work of the Royal Observatory. Showings throughout August at 12.30, 14.00, 15.30 and 17.00.

Suitable for

• 5-6
• 11-13
• 16-17
• 7-10
• 14-15
• 18+

Admission

£6.50 adults, £4.50 children, £5.50 concessions, £20.00 family.

Website

http://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory

Come along in your steampunk finery for a special late night opening of the Longitude Punk’d exhibition. Meet artists involved in the exhibition, bump into time-travelling Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne, and his human computer, Mary Edwards, or view the night sky through the splendid Victorian Great Equatorial Telescope, all whilst partaking in some of Meantime Brewery’s finest ale.

Suitable for

• 18+

Admission

£12.00 per person.

Website

http://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory

Curator of Art, Dr Melanie Vandenbrouck, gives you a chance to get close to the participants of the Second World War, with touch tours of the sculptures in the World War One and Two exhibition "War Artists at Sea" for blind and partially sighted visitors. At The Queen's House.

Free but advanced booking recommended.

Suitable for

• Any age