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If straddling the Prime Meridian with one foot in each hemisphere is on your London bucket list, you’ve only got until early November to tick it off. The Royal Observatory Greenwich has confirmed that the site will close from Monday, November 2 as part of its £77 million transformation. Make sure you get your visits in before then, as it won’t reopen until summer 2027.
The Observatory’s Peter Harrison Planetarium already shut its doors back in September, but the Prime Meridian line, Meridian Observatory and Flamstead House galleries have all remained open. That’s all about to change, and there will also be some shorter term closures in the run up too, mostly affecting early evening opening hours.
So, what exactly does £77 million worth of work look like? The Observatory is a complex of historic buildings that have grown organically over more than three centuries. The result, while undeniably atmospheric, is full of narrow routes and steep gradients that make navigating the site a bit of a logistical nightmare.
The project is titled The First Light and is timed to coincide with the Observatory’s 350th birthday. It will introduce a new elevated walkway across the garden linking the north and south sections, with landscaped, step-free paths and a new access tower with a lift, finally allowing visitors to reach the Great Equatorial Telescope. There are also plans for an exhibition space for new heritage displays and a more obvious main entrance, courtesy of an entrance pavilion designed by Jamie Fobert Architects.
‘The Royal Observatory has long been a place of curiosity, meticulous observation and creative thinking. This encapsulates the spirit of the project,’ said Paddy Rodgers, chief executive of Royal Museums Greenwich when the wider plans were first announced.
If you’re after a Greenwich fix whilst the Observatory is closed, the museum group’s other sites nearby like the Cutty Sark, National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House, will all remain open as usual.
Did you know that the Courtauld Gallery just announced its 2027 exhibition programme, and it features some huge names?
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