The Fan Museum Greenwich: The World’s Only Fan Museum (And One of London’s Best Hidden Gems)

Genuinely, hand on heart, one of the most underrated afternoons you can have in London costs £5 and involves learning more about fans than you ever thought possible.

The Fan Museum on Crooms Hill in Greenwich is the only museum in the world devoted entirely to the history, culture, and craft of the fan, and it is so much better than that sentence makes it sound.

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Over 4,000 objects spanning 1,000 years, two beautifully restored Georgian townhouses, a Japanese-style Orangery garden, candlelit evening events, and Queen Camilla as royal patron (who personally showed up to open the latest exhibition, because of course she did).

For £5. In southeast London. Honestly, what are we all doing going to the same three museums on repeat.

So what’s actually inside?

The permanent collection covers fan history from the ancient world through to the 20th century, and the range is genuinely astonishing once you’re standing in front of it.

Painted ivory brisé fans from the 17th century. Intricately lacquered Japanese pieces. Feathered Edwardian confections that look like they belong in a Bridgerton episode (and probably did inspire one).

Here’s a little sneak peek:

Royal commemorative fans marking events from the coronation of George III through to the present day.

The craftsmanship across the collection is extraordinary, and the Georgian setting makes the whole thing feel like stumbling into someone’s very elegant private collection rather than a public museum.

The current exhibition, Monarchy: An Exhibition of Royal Fans, runs until 26th September 2026, so if you’re reading this in the next few days, go now rather than later.

It was opened by Queen Camilla herself in May, which is the kind of endorsement most museums would put on a billboard.

The Orangery

Nobody talks about the Orangery enough. The Japanese-style garden tucked behind the main museum building is calm, quietly beautiful, and feels completely removed from the rest of Greenwich.

The traditional Chinese tea ceremony runs here on the first and third Saturdays of each month, which is a genuinely lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon and considerably more interesting than most things you could book for the same price.

The fan-making workshops

The museum runs regular fan-making workshops with expert tutors throughout the year. The next one, Fan Making x Paper Cutting, is on Saturday, 10th October.

They fill up quickly, so booking ahead is worth doing sooner rather than later. The kind of afternoon that produces something genuinely beautiful and costs very little.

Museum by Candlelight

The museum opens after hours on select evenings with the collection lit by candlelight, which sounds atmospheric because it absolutely is.

Check the events calendar for upcoming dates and book ahead. It goes quickly!

For everything else worth doing while you’re in the area, have a look at our fun free things to do in Greenwich guide.