The Fan Museum

The Fan Museum The Fan Museum is the first and only museum in the UK devoted in its entirety to all aspects of the ancient art and craft of the fan.

The museum owes its existence to the vision of Hélène Alexander and her late husband, A.V (Dicky) Alexander. When the museum opened its doors to the public back in 1991, the Alexander’s had already been working on the project for some five years. Hélène, over a prolonged period, had amassed an internationally significant collection of fans, fan leaves and associated literature (now numbering over

4000 objects) and the founding of The Fan Museum reflected her desire to promote, conserve, and display fans to a wide audience. In the intermittent years, the museum has staged over sixty temporary exhibitions covering a diverse range of themes: from “Children in Fans” through to “Imperial Fans from The Hermitage”, visitors to the Greenwich based museum have been treated to exhibitions of great depth and artistic merit.

A ribboned sun hat, a bird, an insect and gardening tools all feature on this glowing cream and gold fan. Formerly owned...
29/05/2026

A ribboned sun hat, a bird, an insect and gardening tools all feature on this glowing cream and gold fan. Formerly owned by HRH Princess Alice, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, it’s made from gilded gauze leaf, overlaid with silk. Add glittering spangles, gold thread embroidery, mother-of-pearl sticks, and you have a fan that shines bright on the darkest of days.

From The Worshipful Company of Fan Makers Collection.

Was this striking black fan held by Queen Victoria on her deathbed? A note kept with it, found by The Royal Collection T...
22/05/2026

Was this striking black fan held by Queen Victoria on her deathbed? A note kept with it, found by The Royal Collection Trust, suggests that it was. Made of sombre silk crepe, its machine lace border imitates Chantilly bobbin lace and features a daffodil motif. This fan is perfectly in keeping with the mourning dress worn by Victoria after the death of her beloved Prince Albert.

On loan from His Majesty The King/The Royal Collection Trust.

To complete the opening of our new exhibition 'Monarchy: An Exhibition of Royal Fans', Her Majesty The Queen unveiled a ...
13/05/2026

To complete the opening of our new exhibition 'Monarchy: An Exhibition of Royal Fans', Her Majesty The Queen unveiled a brand new plaque in the Museum's picturesque Orangery. The plaque details the naming of 'The Alexander Room' and 'The Adda Gallery' upstairs here at the Museum. 👑🪭

Come and see us and our new exhibition now, it will be open until Saturday 26th September 2026!

All photo credits © Niki Gorick Photography.
 

During their visit to open our new exhibition 'Monarchy: An Exhibition of Royal Fans', Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The...
13/05/2026

During their visit to open our new exhibition 'Monarchy: An Exhibition of Royal Fans', Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Duchess of Gloucester enjoyed a conversation with the Museum's Founder Mrs Hélène Alexander MBE. Without Mrs Alexander and her late husband 'Dickie' A.V Alexander OBE, there would be no Museum at all!

Come and see us and our new exhibition now, it will be open until Saturday 26th September 2026!

All photo credits © Niki Gorick Photography.


The Fan Museum was delighted to welcome Her Majesty The Queen, our Patron, to open our new exhibition 'Monarchy: An Exhi...
13/05/2026

The Fan Museum was delighted to welcome Her Majesty The Queen, our Patron, to open our new exhibition 'Monarchy: An Exhibition of Royal Fans' last week! The exhibition features fans with royal provenance and fans that depict Royalty, and we are very pleased that included in the exhibition are fans on loan from both Her Majesty's personal collection and The Royal Collection Trust. 👑🪭

Her Majesty was accompanied on her visit to the Museum by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester, who is also a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers.

Thank you to all involved in the preparation of this exhibition, with very special thanks to Mary Kitson who took invaluable Curatorial lead.

Come and see us and our new exhibition now, it will be open until Saturday 26th September 2026!

All photo credits © Niki Gorick Photography.
 

The Fan Museum are Royally Pleased to announce that we will be back open to the public today, Saturday 9th May 2026 from...
09/05/2026

The Fan Museum are Royally Pleased to announce that we will be back open to the public today, Saturday 9th May 2026 from 11:00am, with our brand new exhibition 'Monarchy: An Exhibition of Royal Fans' 👑🪭!!

We would like to thank sincerely all who have been involved in the planning, support, and setting up of this exhibition. It has been a labor of love over the last year!

The exhibition will be open from today until its final day on Saturday 26th September 2026. 🪭👑🪭

We are very excited to be loaning some objects from The Fan Museum to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, London, for their ...
28/04/2026

We are very excited to be loaning some objects from The Fan Museum to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, London, for their upcoming major exhibition 'The Sun and The Moon: Art Inspired by the Celestial'. The exhibition opens this Summer on Friday 5th June 2026. Take a peak at some teasers of the treasures that will be on display from The Fan Museum - get your tickets to the exhibition to see the objects in full! 🪭🌞🌝



We are excited to be collaborating with Amitabha Garden, a local cultural space here in Greenwich, to bring to you an en...
21/04/2026

We are excited to be collaborating with Amitabha Garden, a local cultural space here in Greenwich, to bring to you an enriching Tea Ceremony and Fan Talk in the picturesque Orangery at The Fan Museum! Tickets are going quickly, so get yours now - find the link in our bio!

Address

12 Crooms Hill
London
SE108ER

Opening Hours

Tuesday 11am - 1pm
2pm - 5pm
Wednesday 11am - 1pm
2pm - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 1pm
2pm - 5pm
Friday 11am - 1pm
2pm - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 1pm
2pm - 5pm

Telephone

+44 (0) 20 8305 1441

Website

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