New Museum Salutes the Chelsea Pensioners

Though I write a lot about museum anniversaries, I don’t often get a chance to write about just-opened museums. A few days after London’s newest museum opened on October 1, though, I happened to be on the spot. It’s the Chelsea Pensioners Museum and a big part of the £12.2 million ($16.9 million) refurbishment of the old stables at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Both the hospital and the Chelsea Pensioners are famous, legendary, mythic, and, until now, mostly unseen.

The new museum is small, beautifully presented, and inspirational. What a lovely treat. Chelsea is exceedingly chichi, with plenty of old money as well as Russian, Arab, and Chinese zillionaires. The museum, in the middle of this, salutes British patriotism in the form of a bunch of jolly old guys who’ve come and gone for close to 350 years, living their last days on the grounds.

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Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

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Though I write a lot about museum anniversaries, I don’t often get a chance to write about just-opened museums. A few days after London’s newest museum opened on October 1, though, I happened to be on the spot. It’s the Chelsea Pensioners Museum and a big part of the £12.2 million ($16.9 million) refurbishment of the old stables at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Both the hospital and the Chelsea Pensioners are famous, legendary, mythic, and, until now, mostly unseen.

The new museum is small, beautifully presented, and inspirational. What a lovely treat. Chelsea is exceedingly chichi, with plenty of old money as well as Russian, Arab, and Chinese zillionaires. The museum, in the middle of this, salutes British patriotism in the form of a bunch of jolly old guys who’ve come and gone for close to 350 years, living their last days on the grounds.