National Maritime Museum Explained

National Maritime Museum
Map Type:United Kingdom London Greenwich
Coordinates:51.4811°N -0.0056°W
Collection:2 million+ objects
Location:Greenwich
London,
United Kingdom
Visitors:2,367,904 (2009)[1]
Publictransit:
Director:Paddy Rogers
Embedded:
Child:yes
Label1:Area
Data1:200acres

The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United Kingdom, it has no general admission charge; there are admission charges for most side-gallery temporary exhibitions, usually supplemented by many loaned works from other museums.

Creation and official opening

The museum was created by the National Maritime Museum Act 1934[2] under a Board of Trustees, appointed by HM Treasury. It is based on the generous donations of Sir James Caird (1864–1954). King George VI formally opened the museum on 27 April 1937 when his daughter Princess Elizabeth accompanied him for the journey along the Thames from London. The first director was Sir Geoffrey Callender.[3]

Collection

Since the earliest times Greenwich has had associations with the sea and navigation. It was a landing place for the Romans,[4] Henry VIII lived here,[5] the Navy has roots on the waterfront,[6] and Charles II founded the Royal Observatory in 1675 for "finding the longitude of places".[7] The home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian since 1884, Greenwich has long been a centre for astronomical study, while navigators across the world have set their clocks according to its time of day. The museum has the most important holdings in the world on the history of Britain at sea, comprising more than two million items, including maritime art (both British and 17th-century Dutch), cartography, manuscripts including official public records, ship models and plans, scientific and navigational instruments, and instruments for time-keeping and astronomy (based at the Observatory). Its holdings including paintings relating to Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson and Captain James Cook.[8]

An active loans programme ensures that items from the collection are seen in the UK and abroad.[9]

The museum aims to achieve a greater understanding of British economic, cultural, social, political and maritime history and its consequences in the world today. The museum plays host to various exhibitions, including Ships Clocks & Stars in 2014, Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution in 2015 and Emma Hamilton: Seduction and Celebrity in 2016.[10] [11] [12]

The collection of the National Maritime Museum also includes items taken from the German Naval Academy Mürwik after World War II, including several ship models, paintings and flags. The museum has been criticised for possessing what has been described as "looted art".[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] The museum regards these cultural objects as "war trophies", removed under the provisions of the Potsdam Conference.[18]

The museum awards the Caird Medal annually in honour of its major donor, Sir James Caird.[19]

In late August 2018, several groups were vying for the right to purchase the 5,500 relics that were an asset of the bankrupt Premier Exhibitions.[20] Eventually, the National Maritime Museum, Titanic Belfast and Titanic Foundation Limited, as well as National Museums Northern Ireland, joined together as a consortium that was raising money to purchase the 5,500 artifacts. The group intended to keep all of the items together as a single exhibit. The oceanographer Robert Ballard said that he favoured this bid as it would ensure that the memorabilia would be permanently displayed in Belfast (where the Titanic was built) and in Greenwich.[20] The museums were critical of the bid process set by the Bankruptcy Court in Jacksonville, Florida. The minimum bid for the auction on 11 October 2018 was set at US$21.5 million (£16.5m) and the consortium did not have enough funding to meet that amount.[21] [22]

Greenwich site

The museum was officially established in 1934 within the 200acres of Greenwich Royal Park in the buildings formerly occupied by the Royal Hospital School, before it moved to Holbrook in Suffolk.[23]

The gardens immediately to the north of the museum were reinstated in the late 1870s following construction of the cut-and-cover tunnel between Greenwich and Maze Hill stations. The tunnel comprised part of the final section of the London and Greenwich Railway and opened in 1878.[24]

A full redevelopment of the main galleries, centring on what is now the Neptune Court, which was designed by Rick Mather Architects and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, was completed in 1999.[25]

In 2008, the museum announced that the Israeli shipping magnate Sammy Ofer had donated £20m for a new gallery.[26]

For a year between 2016 and 2017 the National Maritime Museum reported 2.41 million visitors.[27]

Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre

The museum has an additional site, the Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre in Kidbrooke, opened in 2018. This houses approximately 70,000 items from the collection, and offers guided tours.[28] [29]

Directors of the National Maritime Museum

Caird Medal

The Caird Medal was instituted in 1984 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the National Maritime Museum Act 1934 that established the museum. The medal is awarded annually to "an individual who, in the opinion of the Trustees of the National Maritime Museum, has done conspicuously important work in the field of the Museum's interests and is of a nature which involves communicating with the public." The medal is named for Sir James Caird (1864–1954), the principal donor at the founding of the National Maritime Museum.[19]

Caird Medallists

Other British maritime museums

The National Maritime Museum Cornwall is a fully independent museum, a development of the original FIMI (Falmouth International Maritime Initiative) partnership created in 1992 and the result of collaboration between the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich and the former Cornwall Maritime Museum in Falmouth.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Visits made in 2009 to visitor attractions in membership with ALVA. Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. 21 May 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100429102826/http://www.alva.org.uk/visitor_statistics/. 29 April 2010.
  2. http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/nav.00500600c004000 National Maritime Museum, Governing Acts of Parliament
  3. [ODNB]
  4. Web site: Greenwick Park: Roman Remains. Royal Parks. 29 December 2018.
  5. Web site: Greenwich Palace: Archaeologists discover ruined remains of Henry VIII's birthplace. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/greenwich-palace-henry-viii-birthplace-remains-discovered-archaeologists-old-royal-naval-college-a7894331.html . 18 June 2022 . subscription . live. 15 August 2017. The Independent. 29 December 2018.
  6. Web site: A brief history of the Old Royal Naval College. 18 October 2017 . South London Club. 29 December 2018.
  7. Web site: Charles II and the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Royal Collection Trust. 29 December 2018.
  8. Web site: Captain James Cook, 1728–79. Royal Museums Greenwich. 29 December 2018.
  9. Web site: Collaborative Doctoral Award with the National Maritime Museum (2010–13). York Art History Collections. 29 December 2018.
  10. Falk. Seb. Review of Ships, Clocks & Stars: The Quest for Longitude. Science Museum Group Journal. 2022. 2. 2. 10.15180/140204. 241871356. 24 February 2017. 13 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170313164428/http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/browse/issue-02/review-of-ships-clocks-stars/. dead.
  11. News: Smart. Alastair. Samuel Pepys, National Maritime Museum, review: 'history rivetingly brought to life'. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/what-to-see/samuel-pepys-national-maritime-museum-review/ . 12 January 2022 . subscription . live. The Telegraph. 24 February 2017.
  12. Web site: Jones. Jonathan. Emma Hamilton: Seduction and Celebrity review – the betrayal of Nelson's mistress. theguardian.com. November 2016. 24 February 2017.
  13. https://web.archive.org/web/20070114103422/http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article01.asp?id=544 "Revealed: Nazi painting in London’s Maritime Museum looted by British."
  14. Web site: The Art Newspaper . 2009-05-09 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080526132548/http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article01.asp?id=562 . 26 May 2008 . How the London Maritime Museum rebuffed a German claim in 1965.
  15. Web site: The Art Newspaper . 2009-05-09 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080526132553/http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article01.asp?id=563 . 26 May 2008 .
  16. "Revealed: six paintings in Maritime Museum were seized by British troops from Nazi Germany." The Art Newspaper. 1 February 2007
  17. Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag: Gezeiten. Die letzten Tage der Dönitz-Regierung in Mürwik . 21. Dezember 2009; access: 27. August 2016
  18. Book: Of Ships and Stars: Maritime Heritage and the Founding of the National Maritime Museum Greenwich. 117. Kevin. Littlewood. Beverley . Butler. Continuum International Publishing Group. 1998. 978-0485115376.
  19. Web site: Prizes and fellowships in naval and maritime history. University of Exeter. 29 December 2018.
  20. Web site: Dawn McCarty, Jef Feeley, Chris Dixon. James Cameron: Getting Titanic Artifacts to U.K. Would Be 'a Dream'. https://web.archive.org/web/20180725065628/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/07/news-titanic-uk-belfast-bankruptcy-cameron/. dead. 25 July 2018. National Geographic. 2018-07-24 . 2018-09-02.
  21. News: Titanic: Salvaged treasure may not return to Belfast. BBC News . 5 October 2018.
  22. Web site: The Basch Report: Titanic artifacts finally to be sold at auction | Jax Daily Record. 20 September 2018. Jacksonville Daily Record - Jacksonville, Florida.
  23. Web site: Royal Hospital School. London Remembers. 12 November 2023.
  24. Web site: SER Lines and Stations. Stephen Chapman. 29 December 2018. 21 June 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170621033320/http://rail.felgall.com/ser.htm. dead.
  25. Web site: Neptune Court, Greenwich Maritime Museum. Architects Journal. 29 December 2018.
  26. Web site: The Sammy Ofer Wing. C F Moller. 29 December 2018.
  27. Web site: National Maritime Museum Annual Report and Accounts 2016-2017.
  28. Web site: The Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre . 2024-02-10 . Royal Museums Greenwich . en.
  29. Web site: 2019-07-03 . This Kidbrooke Housing Estate Is Hiding An Incredible Collection Of Maritime Treasures . 2024-02-10 . Londonist . en.
  30. Web site: Biography Frank Carr: Ship saver by Peter Elphick, states "Meanwhile, in 1966, the Trustees of the National Maritime Museum dismissed Frank Carr from his post as Director, two years before he was due to retire. No one seems to know the full circumstances behind this highly controversial decision, but it seems that the Trustees wanted a change of course." . 13 January 2008 . 5 December 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071205175531/http://www.worldshiptrust.org/carr2.html . dead .
  31. Who's who entry for Richard Ormond
  32. Who's who entry for Roy Clare
  33. Web site: Biography of Director Kevin Fewster on NMM website. . 13 January 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080623195504/http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.21897 . 23 June 2008 . dead .
  34. Web site: Directors and Trustees. www.rmg.co.uk.
  35. R. J. B. KNIGHT, HONOR FROST, ERIC RIETH, MICHAEL WEBB, N. A. M. RODGER, DAVID H. ROBERTS, RICHARD BARKER, ALEXANDER FLINDER & LAWRENCE PHILLIPS (1989). NOTES. The Mariner's Mirror. 75. 3. 210–276. 10.1080/00253359.1989.10656259. 1989.
  36. .
  37. http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000047878,00.html Penguin Books author biography: Richard Ollard
  38. Web site: Gerard Turner awarded the Caird Medal. Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 . 1993. 29 December 2018.
  39. http://www.jmr.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conJmrArticle.15 The Caird Lecture, 1999, by Elisabeth Mann-Borgese: "The economics and governance of the oceans" in Journal for Maritime Research, January 2000.
  40. http://www.jmr.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conJmrArticle.30 The Caird Lecture, 2000, by John Hattendorf: "The Anglo-French Naval Wars (1689–1815) in twentieth-century naval thought"
  41. http://www.captaincooksociety.com/vol27no4.pdf Reference to David Attenborough's Caird Medal Address in Cook's Log: the quarterly newsletter of the Captain Cook Society, Volume 27 No.4 (Oct–Dec 2004)
  42. http://www.history.ac.uk/friends/PastandFuture2005.pdf Institute of Historical Research Newsletter 2005: Peter Kennedy's Caird Medal Address noted
  43. http://www.jmr.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/ConJmrArticle.227 Caird Lecture, 2006, by David Armitage: "The Elephant and the Whale: Empires of Land and Sea"
  44. Web site: Roger Knight. Roger Knight.
  45. Web site: Professor Simon Schaffer FBA. The British Academy.

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