The Painted Hall at Old Royal Naval College, designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor, was originally intended to be a place where veterans of the Royal Hospital could eat. Its walls and ceilings were beautifully decorated by Sir James Thornhill, and pay tribute to British sea power.
In 1806, three months after his death in the Battle of Trafalgar, Admiral Horatio Nelson’s body was taken to the Painted Hall. A plaque in the ground marks the place where the great hero lay in his coffin before he was taken away to be buried in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral.
Between 1824 and 1936, the Painted Hall was known as the National Gallery of Naval Art, with more than 300 ship-themed paintings on display within its walls.
In 1939, after extensive restoration, the Painted Hall was used as a dining hall by the officers of the Royal Naval College, as well as the scene of many other important feasts, including a banquet in 1946 to celebrate the formation of the United Nations.
