The National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory Greenwich, the Queen’s House and Cutty Sark are home to collections and stories that are relevant to audiences across the globe.

Much of the work undertaken by the Museum involves overseas partnerships, skills sharing, research, exchanges and loans, in which it enjoys foreign support both financial and non-financial. It also has a well-established worldwide audience at Greenwich: in 2011–12, 57% of total visits were by overseas visitors, with 43.4% of visits to its website made from outside the UK. We are keen to extend this audience and place continuing international activities at the forefront of what we do. Guests at the unveiling event including Elena Gagarina, the Russian Ambassador, representatives from ROSCOSMOS and the Royal Museums Greenwich Nelson's Trafalgar uniform

What's new

Russian-Anglo space links: The Royal Observatory Greenwich has become the permanent home to a statue of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The statue was a gift to the British Council from the Russian Space Agency ROSCOSMOS in 2011 to mark the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s famous flight into space.

Gagarin’s daughter, Elena, unveiled a plaque at the statue’s base in a ceremony on 7 March 2013, with additional speeches from Lord Sterling, Chairman; Alexander Yakovenko, Russian Ambassador to the UK and Vitaly Davydov, Deputy Head of ROSCOSMOS. 

Royal Museums Greenwich wish to thank the British Council and ROSCOSMOS for facilitating the relocation of the Yuri Gagarin statue to Greenwich and its installation has been generously supported by Aeroflot, the Russian Railways and Sovcomflot.

Nelson’s Trafalgar uniform has left Britain for the first time since it returned from battle in 1805. The undress uniform which Nelson was wearing when he was fatally wounded on the deck of HMS Victory is now on temporary loan to the Musee de l’Armee in Paris. For more information please see the International Loans page.

Find out more

Find out more about our international activities via the links below: