This is no ordinary museum Web site. Even if it were not based in Greenwich, and therefore deeply involved in preparations for the millennial celebrations, it would still stand out from the pack.

For a start, the site covers not just one museum, but three - the Maritime Museum, the Old Royal Observatory and Planetarium, and the Queen’s House, the palace built by Inigo Jones for Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I.

And, where many museum sites offer little more than online versions of their publicity leaflets, the Greenwich curators are using the Internet to develop a complementary resource for researchers, teachers and the public - and to build links with others, as in the “Tumblong” Anglo-Australian art project.

Look, for example, at the “factfiles” in the education amp; interpretation section, a set of easily-digestible texts for teachers, covering the early navigators, naval history, architecture and astronomy, in question-and-answer form. There is also detailed information on the extensive programme of national curriculum-linked activities and INSET courses run by the museum’s education andinterpretation group.

The research area includes an invitation to contribute to the “Maritime Information Gateway”, an ambitious scheme that aims to build a database of maritime resources on the Web, and to improve access to the museum’s own archives.

As for the millennium, the Greenwich Meridian 2000 pages within this site provide level-headed explanations of what all the fuss is about.