List of public art in the Royal Borough of Greenwich
Greenwich
Table:
Title / subject	Location and coordinates	Date	Artist / designer	Type	Designation

Statue of George II	Old Royal Naval College 51°29′01″N 0°00′21″W / 51.48361°N 0.00595°W / 51.48361 ; -0.00595 ( Statue of George II )	1735	John Michael Rysbrack	Statue	Grade II

The Immortality of Nelson	Nelson Pediment , Old Royal Naval College	1809-1812	Benjamin West and Joseph Panzetta	Architectural relief sculpture	Grade I

Bust of Horatio Nelson , 1st Viscount Nelson	Queen 's House	1835	Francis Leggatt Chantrey	Bust

Statue of William IV	King William Walk 51°28′48″N 0°00′24″W / 51.47989°N 0.00654°W / 51.47989 ; -0.00654 ( Statue of William IV )	1845	Samuel Nixon	Statue	Grade II

Memorial to Joseph René Bellot	Cutty Sark Gardens 51°29′01″N 0°00′28″W / 51.48364°N 0.00786°W / 51.48364 ; -0.00786 ( Bellot Memorial )	1855	Philip Hardwick	Obelisk	Grade II

Memorial to the New Zealand Campaign ( 1863-1864 )	King William Walk 51°29′00″N 0°00′33″W / 51.4833°N 0.0091°W / 51.4833 ; -0.0091 ( New Zealand Campaign Memorial )	after 1864	?	Obelisk	Grade II

Busts of naval heroes	Pepys Building , Old Royal Naval College	1874-1883	Charles Raymond Smith	Reliefs	Grade II

Statue of General James Wolfe	Blackheath Avenue , Greenwich Park 51°28′40″N 0°00′03″W / 51.47782°N 0.00085°W / 51.47782 ; -0.00085 ( Statue of General Wolfe )	1930	Robert Tait McKenzie	Statue	Grade II

Statue of Walter Raleigh	Old Royal Naval College 51°28′59″N 0°00′31″W / 51.48306°N 0.00867°W / 51.48306 ; -0.00867 ( Statue of Walter Raleigh )	1959	William McMillan	Statue	Grade II

Large Standing Figure ( Knife Edge )	Greenwich Park	1961-1978	Henry Moore	Sculpture	N/A

Dolphin Dial	Titanic Memorial Garden , Royal Observatory	1977-1978	Christopher St John Daniel and Edwin Russell	Equinoctial sundial with sculpture	N/A

Greenwich Mural	Woolwich Road	1972	Philippa Threlfall and Kennedy Collings	Mural	N/A

Statue of Captain James Cook	National Maritime Museum 51°28′50″N 0°00′17″W / 51.48051°N 0.0048°W / 51.48051 ; -0.0048 ( Statue of Captain Cook )	1994	Arthur Weller	Statue	N/A

Prime Meridian marker	Royal Observatory	1999	Christina Garzia	Sculpture	N/A

The Throne of Earthly Kings	Devonport House	2004	François Hameury	Sculpture	N/A

Statue of Horatio Nelson , 1st Viscount Nelson	Trafalgar Tavern	2009	Lesley Povey	Statue	N/A

Nelson 's Ship in a Bottle	National Maritime Museum	2010	Yinka Shonibare	Sculpture	N/A

Statue of Yuri Gagarin	Royal Observatory	2011	Anatoly Novikov	Statue	N/A

Encompass	Greenwich Market	2016	Michael Speller	Sculpture	N/A

From the following table and the background passages listed.

Answer the following question: What was the nationality of the creator of the earliest work ? Output only the correct answer as {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Avoid adding external knowledge.

George II ( George Augustus ; German : Georg II . August ; 30 October / 9 November 1683O.S./N.S . - 25 October 1760 ) was King of Great Britain and Ireland , Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg ( Hanover ) and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 ( O.S . ) until his death in 1760 . George is the most recent British monarch born outside Great Britain : he was born and brought up in northern Germany . The Act of Settlement 1701 and the Acts of Union 1707 positioned his grandmother , Sophia of Hanover , and her Protestant descendants to inherit the British throne . After the deaths of Sophia and Anne , Queen of Great Britain , in 1714 , his father , the Elector of Hanover , became George I of Great Britain . In the first years of his father 's reign as king , George was associated with opposition politicians , until they rejoined the governing party in 1720 . As king from 1727 , George exercised little control over British domestic policy , which was largely controlled by the Parliament of Great Britain . As elector , he spent twelve summers in Hanover , where he had more direct control over government policy . He had a difficult relationship with his eldest son , Frederick , who supported the parliamentary opposition . During the War of the Austrian Succession , George participated at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 , and thus became the last British monarch to lead an army in battle .
The Old Royal Naval College is the architectural centrepiece of Maritime Greenwich , a World Heritage Site in Greenwich , London , described by the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organisation ( UNESCO ) as being of outstanding universal value and reckoned to be the finest and most dramatically sited architectural and landscape ensemble in the British Isles . The site is managed by the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College , set up in July 1998 as a registered charity to look after these magnificent buildings and their grounds for the benefit of the nation . The grounds and some of its buildings are open to visitors . The buildings were originally constructed to serve as the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich , now generally known as Greenwich Hospital , which was designed by Christopher Wren , and built between 1696 and 1712 . The hospital closed in 1869 . Between 1873 and 1998 it was the Royal Naval College , Greenwich .
Johannes Michel or John Michael Rysbrack , original name Jan Michiel Rijsbrack ( 24 June 1694 - 8 January 1770 ) , was an 18th-century Flemish sculptor , who spent most of his career in England . His birth-year is sometimes ( wrongly ) given as 1693 or 1684 .
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson , 1st Viscount Nelson , 1st Duke of Bronté , KB ( 29 September 1758 - 21 October 1805 ) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy . His inspirational leadership , grasp of strategy , and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories , particularly during the Napoleonic Wars . He was wounded in combat , losing sight in one eye in Corsica at the age of 36 , and most of one arm in the unsuccessful attempt to conquer Santa Cruz de Tenerife when he was 40 . He was fatally shot during his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 . Nelson was born into a moderately prosperous Norfolk family and joined the navy through the influence of his uncle , Maurice Suckling , a high-ranking naval officer . Nelson rose rapidly through the ranks and served with leading naval commanders of the period before obtaining his own command at the age of 20 in 1778 . He developed a reputation for personal valour and firm grasp of tactics , but suffered periods of illness and unemployment after the end of the American War of Independence . The outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars allowed Nelson to return to service , where he was particularly active in the Mediterranean . He fought in several minor engagements off Toulon and was important in the capture of Corsica and subsequent diplomatic duties with the Italian states . In 1797 , he distinguished himself while in command of HMS Captain at the Battle of Cape St Vincent . Shortly after that battle , Nelson took part in the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife , where the attack was defeated and he was badly wounded , losing his right arm , and was forced to return to England to recuperate . The following year he won a decisive victory over the French at the Battle of the Nile and remained in the Mediterranean to support the Kingdom of Naples against a French invasion .
Benjamin West PRA ( October 10 , 1738 - March 11 , 1820 ) was a British North American artist , who painted famous historical scenes such as The Death of Nelson , The Death of General Wolfe , and Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky . Entirely self-taught , West soon gained valuable patronage , and he toured Europe , eventually settling in London . He impressed King George III and was largely responsible for the launch of the Royal Academy , of which he became the second president ( after Sir Joshua Reynolds ) . He was appointed historical painter to the court and Surveyor of the King 's Pictures . West also painted religious subjects , as in his huge work The Preservation of St Paul after a Shipwreck at Malta , at the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul in Greenwich , and Christ Healing the Sick , presented to the National Gallery .
Joseph Panzetta was an Italian sculptor and modeller who worked in England from c.1787-1830 and exhibited at Royal Academy from 1789-1810 . He worked for Mrs Eleanor Coade at her Coade Ornamental Stone Manufactory for over 26 years and modelled in Lithodipyra ( Coade stone ) . His finest and most significant works include : the Admiral Lord Nelson 's Pediment at the Royal Naval College , Greenwich ; and the 5.2 metre statue of Lord Rowland Hill , 1st Viscount Hill , in Shrewsbury that stands atop Lord Hill 's Column , the tallest Doric column in Great Britain .
Queen 's House is a former royal residence built between 1616 and 1635 in Greenwich , a few miles down-river from the then City of London and now a London Borough . Its architect was Inigo Jones , for whom it was a crucial early commission , for Anne of Denmark , the queen of King James I . Queen 's House is one of the most important buildings in British architectural history , being the first consciously classical building to have been constructed in the country . It was Jones 's first major commission after returning from his 1613-1615 grand tour of Roman , Renaissance , and Palladian architecture in Italy . Some earlier English buildings , such as Longleat and Burghley House , had made borrowings from the classical style , but these were restricted to small details not applied in a systematic way , or the building may be a mix of different styles . Furthermore , the form of these buildings was not informed by an understanding of classical precedents . Queen 's House would have appeared revolutionary to English eyes in its day . Jones is credited with the introduction of Palladianism with the construction of Queen 's House , although it diverges from the mathematical constraints of Palladio , and it is likely that the immediate precedent for the H-shaped plan straddling a road is the Villa Medici at Poggio a Caiano by Giuliano da Sangallo . Today the building is both a Grade I listed building and a scheduled ancient monument , a status that includes the 115-foot-wide ( 35 m ) , axial vista to the River Thames . The house now forms part of the National Maritime Museum and is used to display parts of their substantial collection of maritime paintings and portraits . It was used as a VIP centre during the 2012 Olympic Games .
Sir Francis Leg ( g ) att Chantrey RA ( 7 April 1781 - 25 November 1841 ) was an English sculptor . He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain , producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time . Chantrey 's most notable works include the statues of King George IV ( Trafalgar Square ) ; King George III ( Guildhall ) , and George Washington ( Massachusetts State House ) . He also executed four monuments to military heroes for St Pauls Cathedral , London . He left the Chantrey Bequest ( or Chantrey Fund ) for the purchase of works of art for the nation , which was available from 1878 after the death of his widow .
William IV ( William Henry ; 21 August 1765 - 20 June 1837 ) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837 . The third son of George III , William succeeded his elder brother George IV , becoming the last king and penultimate monarch of Britain 's House of Hanover . William served in the Royal Navy in his youth , spending time in North America and the Caribbean , and was later nicknamed the Sailor King . In 1789 , he was created Duke of Clarence and St Andrews . In 1827 , he was appointed as Britain 's first Lord High Admiral since 1709 . As his two older brothers died without leaving legitimate issue , he inherited the throne when he was 64 years old . His reign saw several reforms : the poor law was updated , child labour restricted , slavery abolished in nearly all of the British Empire , and the British electoral system refashioned by the Reform Act 1832 . Although William did not engage in politics as much as his brother or his father , he was the last monarch to appoint a British prime minister contrary to the will of Parliament . He granted his German kingdom a short-lived liberal constitution . At the time of his death , William had no surviving legitimate children , but he was survived by eight of the ten illegitimate children he had by the actress Dorothea Jordan , with whom he cohabited for twenty years . Late in life , he married and apparently remained faithful to the young princess who would become Queen Adelaide . William was succeeded by his niece Queen Victoria in the United Kingdom , and his brother King Ernest Augustus in Hanover .
Samuel Nixon ( 30 June 1804 , London - 1854 ) was a portrait sculptor in London , England .
Joseph-René Bellot ( 18 March 1826 - 18 August 1853 ) was a French naval officer and Arctic explorer .
Philip Hardwick RA ( 15 June 1792 in London - 28 December 1870 ) was an English architect , particularly associated with railway stations and warehouses in London and elsewhere . Hardwick is probably best known for London 's demolished Euston Arch and its twin station , the original Birmingham Curzon Street , which stands today as the oldest railway terminus building in the world .
The New Zealand Memorial is an obelisk in Greenwich which commemorates 21 British officers and men of the Royal Navy who died in the New Zealand War of 1863-64 . The memorial is located near the River Thames , east of the Cutty Sark , close to the Royal Naval College , Greenwich . It became a Grade II listed building in 1973 . The obelisk is made from pink-grey Cornish granite . It stands on a square plinth , which rests on three wide steps . The plinth is decorated with mouldings resembling chains and ropes , and bears inscriptions on each side . It was constructed c. 1872 and became Grade 2 listed in June 1973 . The 21 dead commemorated by the memorial include Captain John Fane Charles Hamilton ( who commanded HMS Esk and after whom the city of Hamilton is named ) , Commander Edward Hay ( who commanded HMS Harrier ) , and other officers and men from Esk , Harrier , and HMS Curacoa , HMS Eclipse , and HMS Miranda The memorial was designed by Frederick Sang , who was commissioned by a memorial fund headed by Rear Admiral Sir William Wiseman , 8th Baronet , former commodore of the Australia Station . The obelisk was made by Charles Raymond Smith .
The Invasion of the Waikato was the biggest and most important campaign of the 19th century New Zealand Wars , fought in the North Island of New Zealand between the military forces of the colonial government and a federation of Māori tribes known as the Kingitanga Movement . The Waikato is a territorial region with a northern boundary somewhat south of the city of Auckland . Hostilities lasted for nine months , from July 1863 to April 1864 . The invasion was aimed at crushing Kingite power , which was seen as a threat to British authority , and also at driving Waikato Māori from their territory in readiness for occupation and settlement by Europeans . The campaign was fought by a peak of about 14,000 Imperial and colonial troops and about 4,000 Māori warriors drawn from more than half the major North Island tribal groups . Plans for the invasion were drawn up at the close of the First Taranaki War in 1861 but were opposed by the Colonial Office and New Zealand General Assembly and suspended by incoming Governor Sir George Grey in December of that year . Grey reactivated the invasion plans in June 1863 amid mounting tension between Kingites and the colonial government and fears of a violent raid on Auckland by Kingite Māori . Grey used as the trigger for the invasion Kingite rejection of his ultimatum on 9 July 1863 that all Māori living between Auckland and the Waikato take an oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria or be expelled south of the Waikato River . Troops crossed into Waikato territory three days later and launched their first attack on 17 July at Koheroa , but were unable to advance for another 14 weeks . The subsequent war included the Battle of Rangiriri - which cost both sides more men than any other engagement of the New Zealand Wars - and the three-day-long Battle of Ōrākau , probably the best-known engagement of the New Zealand Wars and which inspired two films called Rewi 's Last Stand . The campaign ended with the retreat of the Kingitanga Māori into the rugged interior of the North Island and the confiscation of about 12,000 km2 of Māori land . The defeat and confiscations left the King Movement tribes with a legacy of poverty and bitterness that was partly assuaged in 1995 when the government conceded that the 1863 invasion and confiscation was wrongful and apologised for its actions .
James Wolfe ( 2 January 1727 - 13 September 1759 ) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec as a major general . The son of a distinguished general , Edward Wolfe , he received his first commission at a young age and saw extensive service in Europe where he fought during the War of the Austrian Succession . His service in Flanders and in Scotland , where he took part in the suppression of the Jacobite Rebellion , brought him to the attention of his superiors . The advancement of his career was halted by the Peace Treaty of 1748 and he spent much of the next eight years on garrison duty in the Scottish Highlands . Already a brigade major at the age of 18 , he was a lieutenant-colonel by 23 . The outbreak of the Seven Years ' War in 1756 offered Wolfe fresh opportunities for advancement . His part in the aborted raid on Rochefort in 1757 led William Pitt to appoint him second-in-command of an expedition to capture the Fortress of Louisbourg . Following the success of the Siege of Louisbourg he was made commander of a force which sailed up the Saint Lawrence River to capture Quebec City . After a long siege Wolfe defeated a French force under the Marquis de Montcalm , allowing British forces to capture the city . Wolfe was killed at the height of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham due to injuries from three musket balls . Wolfe 's part in the taking of Quebec in 1759 earned him lasting fame , and he became an icon of Britain 's victory in the Seven Years ' War and subsequent territorial expansion . He was depicted in the painting The Death of General Wolfe , which became famous around the world .
Greenwich Park is a former hunting park in Greenwich and one of the largest single green spaces in south-east London . One of the Royal Parks of London , and the first to be enclosed ( in 1433 ) , it covers 74 hectares ( 180 acres ) , and is part of the Greenwich World Heritage Site . It commands fine views over the River Thames , the Isle of Dogs and the City of London ( Simon Jenkins rated the view of the Royal Hospital with Canary Wharf in the distance as one of the top ten in England ) . The park is open year-round . It is listed Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens .
Robert Tait McKenzie ( sometimes written MacKenzie ; May 26 , 1867 - April 28 , 1938 ) was a Canadian physician , educator , sculptor , athlete , soldier and Scouter . Born in Ramsay Township , Lanark County , Ontario , Canada , he attended McGill University in Montreal as an undergraduate and medical student , and was an instructor in its medical school beginning in 1894 . In 1904 , he moved to the United States to teach at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . In the 1930s , he returned to the county of his birth , retiring to the Mill of Kintail in Almonte . He pioneered physical fitness programs in Canada . During World War I , his methods and inventions for restoring and rehabilitating wounded soldiers laid a foundation for modern physiotherapy practices .
Sir Walter Raleigh ( /ˈrɔːli , ˈræli , ˈrɑːli/ ; c. 1552 ( or 1554 ) - 29 October 1618 ) , also spelled Ralegh , was an English landed gentleman , writer , poet , soldier , politician , courtier , spy and explorer . He was cousin to Sir Richard Grenville and younger half-brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert . He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England . Raleigh was one of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era . Raleigh was born to a Protestant family in Devon , the son of Walter Raleigh and Catherine Champernowne . Little is known of his early life , though in his late teens he spent some time in France taking part in the religious civil wars . In his 20s he took part in the suppression of rebellion in Ireland participating in the Siege of Smerwick . Later , he became a landlord of property confiscated from the native Irish . He rose rapidly in the favour of Queen Elizabeth I and was knighted in 1585 . Raleigh was instrumental in the English colonisation of North America and was granted a royal patent to explore Virginia , paving the way for future English settlements . In 1591 , he secretly married Elizabeth Throckmorton , one of the Queen 's ladies-in-waiting , without the Queen 's permission , for which he and his wife were sent to the Tower of London . After his release , they retired to his estate at Sherborne , Dorset .
William McMillan RA ( 31 August 1887 - 25 September 1977 ) was a Scottish 20th-century sculptor .
Standing Figure : Knife Edge is a bronze sculpture by the English artist Henry Moore . It was cast in two full-size versions : Standing Figure : Knife Edge ( LH 482 ) in 1961 , and a larger Large Standing Figure : Knife Edge ( LH 482a ) in 1976 . The sculpture also is sometimes known as Standing Figure ( Bone ) or Winged Figure . Moore first conceived the work in 1961 . It is based on a fragment of a bird 's breastbone , to which a base and a head were added with plasticine . A rounded protrusion forms the head , and the figure has a diagonal line at its waist . The resulting composition resembles a human torso , similar to the Winged Victory of Samothrace . It had been described as the end point of Moore 's investigation of upright figures , which started with Standing Figure ( 1950 ) ( LH 290 ) . He used a similar process , starting with bone fragments , for his 1962 work , Knife Edge Two Piece . The sculpture was enlarged in three stages . First , Moore made a 162.5 centimetres ( 5 ft 4.0 in ) high working model ( LH 481 ) in 1961 . The Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green , Hertfordshire , has two versions , one in plaster and another in fibreglass , and other examples are held by the Hakone Open-Air Museum in Japan , and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC .
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA ( 30 July 1898 - 31 August 1986 ) was an English artist . He is best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art . As well as sculpture , Moore produced many drawings , including a series depicting Londoners sheltering from the Blitz during the Second World War , along with other graphic works on paper . His forms are usually abstractions of the human figure , typically depicting mother-and-child or reclining figures . Moore 's works are usually suggestive of the female body , apart from a phase in the 1950s when he sculpted family groups . His forms are generally pierced or contain hollow spaces . Many interpreters liken the undulating form of his reclining figures to the landscape and hills of his Yorkshire birthplace . Moore became well known through his carved marble and larger-scale abstract cast bronze sculptures , and was instrumental in introducing a particular form of modernism to the United Kingdom . His ability in later life to fulfil large-scale commissions made him exceptionally wealthy . Despite this , he lived frugally ; most of the money he earned went towards endowing the Henry Moore Foundation , which continues to support education and promotion of the arts .
The Royal Observatory , Greenwich ( ROG ; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998 , when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory , RGO , moved from Greenwich to Herstmonceux ) is an observatory situated on a hill in Greenwich Park , overlooking the River Thames . It played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation , and because the prime meridian passes through it , it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time . The ROG has the IAU observatory code of 000 , the first in the list . ROG , the National Maritime Museum , the Queen 's House and Cutty Sark are collectively designated Royal Museums Greenwich . The observatory was commissioned in 1675 by King Charles II , with the foundation stone being laid on 10 August . The site was chosen by Sir Christopher Wren . At that time the king also created the position of Astronomer Royal , to serve as the director of the observatory and to apply himself with the most exact care and diligence to the rectifying of the tables of the motions of the heavens , and the places of the fixed stars , so as to find out the so much desired longitude of places for the perfecting of the art of navigation . He appointed John Flamsteed as the first Astronomer Royal . The building was completed in the summer of 1676 . The building was often called Flamsteed House , in reference to its first occupant . The scientific work of the observatory was relocated elsewhere in stages in the first half of the 20th century , and the Greenwich site is now maintained almost exclusively as a museum , although the AMAT telescope became operational for astronomical research in 2018 .
Edwin John Cumming Russell ( 1939-2013 ) was an English sculptor . He studied at the Brighton School of Art and the Royal Academy School . He was married to fellow sculptor Lorne McKean .
List of A roads in zone 2 in Great Britain starting south of the River Thames and east of the A3 ( roads beginning with 2 ) .
James Cook FRS ( 7 November 1728 [ NB 1 ] - 14 February 1779 ) was a British explorer , navigator , cartographer , and captain in the British Royal Navy . He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean , during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands , and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand . Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755 . He saw action in the Seven Years ' War and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec , which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society . This acclaim came at a crucial moment in his career and the direction of British overseas exploration , and led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HM Bark Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages . In these voyages , Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe . He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously charted by Western explorers . He surveyed and named features , and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time . He displayed a combination of seamanship , superior surveying and cartographic skills , physical courage , and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions . Cook was attacked and killed in 1779 during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific while attempting to kidnap the Island of Hawaii 's monarch , Kalaniʻōpuʻu , in order to reclaim a cutter stolen from one of his ships . He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge that influenced his successors well into the 20th century , and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him .
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 .
The Trafalgar Tavern is a Grade II listed public house at Park Row , Greenwich , London , situated on the south bank of the River Thames , east of and adjacent to the Old Royal Naval College .
Yinka Shonibare CBE , RA ( born 1962 ) is a British-Nigerian artist living in the United Kingdom . His work explores cultural identity , colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalisation . A hallmark of his art is the brightly coloured Dutch wax fabric he uses . Because he has a physical disability that paralyses one side of his body , Shonibare uses assistants to make works under his direction .
The Statue of Yuri Gagarin in Greenwich , London , is a zinc statue depicting the cosmonaut wearing a spacesuit and standing on top of a globe . The figure was originally unveiled on 14 July 2011 at a temporary location in the Mall , close to Admiralty Arch and facing the statue of Captain James Cook . It was later moved to the Royal Observatory , Greenwich , at a site overlooking the Prime Meridian line , and was unveiled at the new location on 7 March 2013 . There had been an unsuccessful proposal to move it to Manchester . The 3.5-metre ( 11 ft ) high statue is a replica of an original by Anatoly Novikov in Lyubertsy , where Gagarin was trained as a foundry worker . The statue was a gift to the British Council from the Russian space agency Roscosmos as a part of several cultural events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight . The original location of the statue was chosen to be where Gagarin first met the then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan .
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [ a ] ( 9 March 1934 - 27 March 1968 ) was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space , achieving a major milestone in the Space Race ; his capsule Vostok 1 completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961 . Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles , including Hero of the Soviet Union , his nation 's highest honour . Born in the village of Klushino near Gzhatsk ( a town later renamed after him ) , in his youth Gagarin was a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy . He later joined the Soviet Air Forces as a pilot and was stationed at the Luostari Air Base , near the Norwegian border , before his selection for the Soviet space programme with five other cosmonauts . Following his spaceflight , Gagarin became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre , which was later named after him . He was also elected as a deputy of the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities , respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet . Vostok 1 was Gagarin 's only spaceflight but he served as the backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission , which ended in a fatal crash , killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov . Fearing for his life , Soviet officials permanently banned Gagarin from further spaceflights . After completing training at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy on 17 February 1968 , he was allowed to fly regular aircraft . Gagarin died five weeks later when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting with his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach .
Greenwich ( /ˈɡrɛnɪtʃ/ ( listen ) GREN-itch , /ˈɡrɪnɪdʒ/ GRIN-ij , /ˈɡrɪnɪtʃ/ GRIN-itch , or /ˈɡrɛnɪdʒ/ GREN-ij ) is an area of South East London , England , centred 5.5 miles ( 8.9 km ) east-southeast of Charing Cross . It is within the Royal Borough of Greenwich , to which it lends its name . Historically it was in the county of Kent for hundreds of years , then the County of London from 1889 to 1965 . Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian ( 0° longitude ) and Greenwich Mean Time . The town became the site of a royal palace , the Palace of Placentia from the 15th century , and was the birthplace of many Tudors , including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I . The palace fell into disrepair during the English Civil War and was demolished to be replaced by the Royal Naval Hospital for Sailors , designed by Sir Christopher Wren and his assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor . These buildings became the Royal Naval College in 1873 , and they remained a military education establishment until 1998 when they passed into the hands of the Greenwich Foundation . The historic rooms within these buildings remain open to the public ; other buildings are used by University of Greenwich and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance . The town became a popular resort in the 18th century and many grand houses were built there , such as Vanbrugh Castle ( 1717 ) established on Maze Hill , next to the park . From the Georgian period estates of houses were constructed above the town centre . The maritime connections of Greenwich were celebrated in the 20th century , with the siting of the Cutty Sark and Gipsy Moth IV next to the river front , and the National Maritime Museum in the former buildings of the Royal Hospital School in 1934 .