Things To Do

Jason Allen 14/01/25


Helios at The Painted Hall

Luke Jerram is an artist whose niche is making massive, hypnotically illuminated, incredibly detailed models of the earth, the moon, and Mars, and dangling them all in extraordinary spaces for people to gaze up at in jaw-dropping awe, and then immediately whip out their phones to flood the ol’ social feed.

And after working his way through the heavenly bodies, he’s now going for the real star of our solar system: the sun.

Helios is a 1:200 million scale model of the big fireball, and it’s going to be hung in the the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College (AKA ‘Britain’s answer to the Sistine Chapel’) for three months, starting at the end of January. How big will it be? Well, just imagine the sun, and now shrink it down by 200 million times. You should be picturing something about 7 meters in diameter, which is about right. For reference, the earth shrunken down to the same size would be about the same size as a tennis ball, and the UK would be a piece of fluff on that tennis ball.

Helios

There’ll be some events orbiting the thing too, including:

Sustainable Fine Dining with Doug McMaster (January 25th) – in which Douglas McMaster, chef patron and owner of Silo which is the world’s first zero-waste restaurant, will feed you a three-course meal, and then chat to you about it afterwards.

A Valentines Day Dinner (February 14th) – on the big day itself, you’ll get live music, welcome glasses of champagne, a three course dinner, and a “single red rose to take home”.

Step into the Cosmos (22nd March) – a silent disco under the orb, with space themed cocktails, and “cosmic pop anthems” (which means Babylon Zoo is a 100% certainty), going on until 11pm.

Helios

There’ll be other regular events on too, including ‘social media Mondays’, regular Lates each Thursday, quiet hours on Friday, and a trio of ‘First Sundays’ on the opening weekend of each month in which entry is just a fiver.

As deals go, it’s stellar.

 

NOTE: Helios will be at the Painted Hall in Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College from January 25th until 25th March 2025. You can find out more, and get tickets at the Old Royal Naval College website.

Old Royal Naval College | Romney Road, London, SE10 9NN


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Helios at The Painted Hall


Romney Road, Greenwich, South London, SE10 9NN