Victoria and Albert Museum
As the world's leading museum of art and design, the V&A enriches people's lives by promoting the practice of design and increasing knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the designed world.
Venue Type:
Museum
Additional info
See website for details
The Victoria and Albert Museum's collections span two thousand years of art in virtually every medium, from many parts of the world, and visitors to the museum encounter a treasure house of amazing and beautiful objects. The Museum was established in 1852, following the enormous success of the Great Exhibition the previous year. Its founding principle was to make works of art available to all, to educate working people and to inspire British designers and manufacturers.
The Museum's ceramics, glass, textiles, dress, silver, ironwork, jewellery, furniture, sculpture, paintings, prints and photographs now span the cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa, and date from ancient times to the present day.
Although the V&A's collections are international in their scope, they contain many particularly important British works - especially British silver, ceramics, textiles and furniture.
Part of the RIBA Trust's British Architecture Library, a Designated Collection of national importance, is on display at this museum.
The collection provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of architecture. It is fundamental to the study of architecture in Britain and is nationally and internationally significant.
Items from this collection
Collection details
World Cultures, Weapons and War, Toys and Hobbies, Social History, Photography, Personalities, Performing Arts, Music, Fine Art, Design, Decorative and Applied Art, Costume and Textiles, Archives, Architecture, Archaeology
Key artists and exhibits
- The British Galleries 1500-1900 tell the story of British design from the Tudor age to the Victorian era. Fifteen completely refurbished galleries are filled with exhibits reflecting all of the top British designers of the times. The galleries are enhanced by computer interactives, objects to handle, video screens and audio programmes. Highlights include the gigantic Great Bed of Ware (mentioned in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night) and the wedding suit worn by James II. Inspirational, beautiful and unmatched in scope, the British Galleries offer an entirely new visitor experience in a stunning and innovative setting.
- Designated Collection
DISPLAY: Exhibition Road Building
- 27 November 2014 — 15 October 2016 *on now
The V&A Exhibition Road Building Project will create a beautifully designed new entrance, gallery, courtyard, shop and café. The display includes models, visualisations, sketches and mock ups that trace the process of this innovative scheme from the early history of the 'boiler house yard' site, through the design competition and the development of AL_A’s winning scheme, to the build itself.
Displays complement our permanent collections; there are many free temporary displays around the V&A. They range in size from a single case to a room.
Room 20
Suitable for
- Any age
Website
http://www.vam.ac.uk/whatson/event/3817/exhibition-road-building-5353/
Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear
- 16 April 2016 — 12 March 2017 *on now
This exhibition will address the practicalities of underwear and its role in the fashionable wardrobe whilst highlighting its sensual, sexual appeal.
The exhibition will explore dress reformers and designers who argued for the beauty of the natural body, as well as entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators who have played a critical role in the development of increasingly more effective and comfortable underwear.
Website
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-undressed-a-brief-history-of-underwear/
Engineering the World: Ove Arup and the Philosophy of Total Design
- 18 June — 6 November 2016 *on now
The first major retrospective of Ove Arup (1895-1988), the most influential engineer of the 20th century. Part of the Engineering Season.
Focussing on Ove Arup’s philosophy of total design, this exhibition will feature unseen archival materials for projects such as the Sydney Opera House alongside recent prototypes and digital animations by Arup, the global engineering consultancy.
Suitable for
- Family friendly
Admission
Tickets cost £7.00
Concessions apply.
Advance booking is recommended.
Website
http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/engineering-the-world#articles
You Say You Want a Revolution: Records & Rebels 1966-70
- 10 September 2016 — 26 February 2017 *on now
This major exhibition will examine the late 1960s as a moment when youth culture drove an optimistic idealism, and motivated people to come together to question the established power structures across every area of society. Through objects relating to music, fashion, film, design and politics, an immersive soundtrack and theatrical three dimensional design, it will investigate the cultural upheavals and the changes within the law that took place during those five revolutionary years.
The spine of the exhibition will be a musical odyssey through some of the greatest music and performances of the 20th century, from Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change is Gonna Come’, to The Who’s ‘My Generation’, to Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock; and will focus on particular moments or environments that defined the cultural and social vanguard of the period, including clubs and counterculture, the Paris protests of May 1968, World Fairs, the Woodstock Festival of 1969 and communes on the West Coast of America. The exhibition considers how the finished and unfinished revolutions of the 1960s changed the way we live today and affect the way we think about the future.
Website
Opus Anglicanum: Masterpieces of English Medieval Embroidery
- 1 October 2016 — 5 February 2017 *on now
From the 12th to the 15th centuries, England was internationally famous mainly for one type of artistic product – elaborate luxury embroideries.
These objects, were sought after by Kings, Popes and Cardinals, and often bear elaborate imagery. This exhibition will highlight the exquisite craftsmanship of the pieces and explore the world in which they were created.
Alongside the magnificent embroideries, many from the V&A’s own collection, will be related material in other media such as paintings, manuscripts, metalwork and sculpture.
Website
Architectural Style
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/architecture/style_level1.php?id=0
Website with pictures and descriptions of a broad range of architectural styles, historical and contemporary Western, Asian and Islamic. There is also an interactive Style Quiz.
Design Your Own Arts and Crafts Tile
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1312_artsandcrafts/design_a_tile/
Drop-in Design
http://www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events/families/index.html
Hunt for ideas in the gallery then have a go at your own designs, using a design challenge. Creative sessions in the V&A's Sackler Centre on Sundays between 10.30 and 17.00, for all ages.
How to obtain
Drop-in Design events are free and there is no need to book - just drop in.
Egyptian Style Art Deco Head-dress`
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1157_art_deco/kids/
Make Your Own Thaumatrope
http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/kids/things_to_make/thaumatrope/index.html
Wallpaper Design
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1185_families/flash/
Getting there
London Underground (The Tube): The V&A is a five minute walk from South Kensington underground station (on the Piccadilly, Circle and District Line). South Kensington is a five minute tube journey from Victoria, ten minutes from Covent Garden and Leicester Square and 15 minutes from King's Cross St Pancras.
The V&A is a ten minute walk from Knightsbridge underground station (on the Piccadilly Line). Knightsbridge is a ten minute tube journey from Covent Garden and Leicester Square and 15 minutes from Kings Cross St Pancras.
Bus: Buses C1, 14, 74 and 414 stop outside the Cromwell Road entrance. The Open Tour stop outside the Museum as part of their Double Decker Bus site-seeing tour of London.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
South Kensington
London
Greater London
SW7 2RL
England
Website
Telephone
020 7942 2000
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