The Royal Observatory

Address: | Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9NF |
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Phone: | 020-7222 1234 |
Website: | |
Opening times: | Daily 10:00-17:00 |
How to get there: | Tube: Cutty Sark |
Entry fee: | Admission charge |
Standing high on Observatory Hill, with a spectacular panoramic view over the Hospital, the river and London stretching into the distance, is Flamsteed House, the earliest building of the Greenwich complex which comprises the Royal Observatory. Built in 1675–76 by Sir Christoper Wren, with the assistance of Robert Hooke, it was the first purpose-built scientific research facility in the country. The Observatory at Greenwich is no longer used to make positional observations (due to atmospheric pollution, the Royal Observatory began the move to Herstmonceaux, Sussex, in 1948), but its historic buildings remain a site of extraordinary significance for the history of astronomy, timekeeping and the search for the calculation of longitude. At the International Meridian Conference in Washington in 1884, Greenwich was recognised as marking the Prime Meridian, Longitude 0˚, and Greenwich Mean Time was internationally adopted. Outside the gates of the courtyard is the Shepherd 24-hour clock, erected in 1852, the year the Greenwich Time Service started sending signals. Greenwich is the official starting point of each new day. The large red Time Ball on the east turret of Flamsteed House is the world’s first visual time signal. Since 1833 it has been hoisted half-way up the mast at 12.55, to the top at 12.58, and dropped at precisely 1pm. |
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MUSEUMS & GALLERIES OF LONDON
Details below are taken from our Blue Guide Museums and Galleries of London. This is a 2005 title, here generally updated for website address and opening times, with useful comments from some of the museums themselves. More recent information is given in Emily Barber's magisterial new Blue Guide London, "Exceptional update to a classic and useful guide to this amazing city" (Amazon reader review).
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Update from The Royal Observatory
The Royal Observatory Greenwich also has a planetarium and astronomy and astronomy galleries as well as the galleries for time that are located in the Meridian Buildings and Flamsteed House. www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory