Greenwich description and photos - UK: London (Topic)

Greenwich description and photos - UK: London. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The name in English is Greenwich.

Photo and description

Greenwich is an area in the south-east of London. He gave the name to the prime meridian and the reference point of time zones - Greenwich Mean Time.

For many years Greenwich was the royal residence. During the Civil War, the royal palace was destroyed, and in its place the architect Christopher Wren (the author of St. Peter's Cathedral in London) built the Greenwich Hospital - modeled on the Parisian Invalides. The Queen's House, built by the architect Inigo Jones for Anna of Denmark, has also survived. It now forms the centerpiece of the National Maritime Museum. Another attraction related to the sea is the Cutty Sark tea clipper in dry dock in Greenwich. In 2007, there was a fire on board, but fortunately, not long before this, most of the wooden parts of the ship, including the bow figure, were removed for restoration. Now the Clipper "Cutty Sark" is fully restored.

But Greenwich gained its main fame thanks to the Royal Observatory located here. Since ancient times, it has been used as a reference point in calculations and mapping, work was carried out here to clarify the coordinates and observe celestial objects. In 1851, the geographic meridian passing through the axis of the transit instrument of the Greenwich Observatory was adopted as the prime meridian. At an international conference in 1884, it was decided to accept this meridian as the world zero point of reference. For a long time, the meridian was designated by a copper strip, then it was replaced by a steel one, and since December 16, 1999, a powerful green laser beam has been shining along the prime meridian. Greenwich meridian not only serves as a reference point for geographical longitudes, but it is also the middle meridian of the zero time zone. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was taken as the reference point for time zones before the introduction of UTC.

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Topic: Greenwich description and photos - UK: London.