About
The Old Royal Naval College are buildings that serve as the architectural centrepiece of Maritime Greenwich, a World Heritage Site in Greenwich, London on the River Thames. Described by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as being of "outstanding universal value" and the site is reckoned to be the "finest and most dramatically sited architectural and landscape ensemble in the British Isles". Formerly the site of a royal palace, the old college was originally constructed to serve as the Royal Navy's Greenwich Hospital, designed by Christopher Wren, and built between 1696 and 1712. The hospital closed in 1869 and so between 1873 and 1998 the buildings were used as a training establishment for the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Wren incorporated the older Queen's House into the layout design, particularly in maintaining the long axial view for the House to the river. The site is now managed by the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College, established in 1997 to conserve the buildings and grounds and convert them into a cultural destination.
