Helios – Luke Jerram’s illuminated sun in the Painted Hall

Name: Helios
Start: 2025-01-25
End: 2025-03-25
Location: Painted Hall

Where? Painted Hall, Old Royal Naval College, King William Walk, Greenwich When? 25th January to 25th March 2025 Price? £16.50 · See ornc.org Buses: 129, 177, 180, 188, 199, 286, 386 Bus fares Trains: The closest station is Cutty Sark DLR Other nearby stations: Island Gardens Train fares

Helios is Luke Jerram's most ambitious artwork yet... bringing light and wonder to the Old Royal Naval College for a two-month run.

Helios sun sculpture in the Painted Hall

Located inside the famous Painted Hall and named after the ancient Greek and Roman sun god, Helios is a seven-metre wide representation of the Sun.

Set to a scale of 1:200 million, every centimetre of the sculpture is internally lit, giving viewers an opportunity to examine in astonishing detail the surface of our Sun's fiery expanse.

The real-life imagery has been compiled from NASA observations and detailed photographs of sunspots, spicules and filaments by the astrophotographer Dr Stuart Green. The sensory journey is then completed by a specially created surround-sound composition by Duncan Speakman and Sarah Anderson, igniting a curiosity in the viewer about our closest star.

Luke Jerram says: "The soundscape, lighting and sheer scale of Helios makes this the most dramatic and ambitious of my designs. The installation is designed to be thought-provoking and inspire awe [amongst] the many celestial, mythological and historical themes in the painted ceiling."