Neil Sinclair, Greenwich tour guide and volunteer at Royal Museums Greenwich, kicks off our 2024 history talk programme with a detailed look at the Queens House - the first palladian style building constructed in Britain.
Conceived following a royal row over a hunting accident in 1613, the Queens House has been a museum and art gallery since 1937. But over its approximately 400 years of history it has served as a royal love nest for King Charles II, a temporary home for the first astronomer royal, a studio for Dutch marine painters Willem van de Velde and son, a refuge for Huguenots escaping religious persecution in France, a school for sons and daughters of Royal Navy seafarers, and laterly a film set for block-buster period dramas The Crown, Bridgerton, and Oscar-winner The Favourite.
Queen Henrietta Maria, for whom it was completed around 1638, called it her house of delights and together with her husband King Charles I filled it with exquisite artworks from the most gifted painters of the 17th century, including Orazio Gentileschi and Anthony van Dyck.
Come along to West Greenwich Library on Thursday 15th February to learn more about the first neo-classical building in Britain, its architect Inigo Jones and the ghost said to haunt the great entrance hall and spectacular tulip staircase.
Doors open from 7.00 and the talk will start at 7.30.
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