The Victoria and Albert Museum is one of three major museums, along with the Natural History Museum and Science Museum, that are in close proximity to each other in the Knightsbridge area of west London. Combining visits to all three will easily fill a day and the best part is they’re all free.
The V&A was first established in the middle of the 19th century and describes itself as the world’s greatest museum of art and design. They have a collection of over 4 million items going back 3,000 years comprising everything creative from European, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Islamic and other cultures, including sculpture, jewelery, costumes, furniture, paintings, ceramics, weapons, photography and a lot more.
And they have the building to show it off in, 45,000 square meters of floor space at the end of the Cromwell Road, the museum surrounds a large interior courtyard with a pond and some artwork where you can take a break from the cultural stuff for a few minutes.
The Victoria & Albert has a permanent collection, but also many varied special and loan exhibitions. Although most of the museum is free you’ll need to buy a ticket for some of these temporary exhibits. Currently there are five special events going on, Sixties Fashion is running until 25 February 2007 looking at the development of fashion from the mid 50’s to early 70’s and is free to enter.
The two that they are advertising out front are At Home in Renaissance Italy and Leonardo da Vinci : Experience, Experiment and Design which are both on until 7 January 2007. To see Leonardo’s work will cost you £11.40 on the day, £10 advance and Renaissance Italy is £8.20 on the day, £7 advance.
There is also an interesting photography exhibition that recently started and which runs until 17 December 2006 called Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour featuring eight artists and how they deal with the changing light at the end of a day. Tickets are £5.75/£5.
Starting on 24 November and running for two months is Volume, an interactive exhibition using light and sound that the V&A are putting on with PlayStation. This will be in the courtyard garden and is free.
The V&A also run a lot of courses and lectures alongside all their regular exhibitions covering things such as the art history of the different cultures and time periods in their collection, practical courses on art, craft and design and demonstration classes on topics from photography to basket weaving.
Hours and prices
The Victoria and Albert Museum is open from 10am-5.45pm daily(10pm Wednesdays). Admission is free and so is an information book you can pick up in the rotunda. Maps are free, though they do ask for a £1 donation. Map
Victoria & Albert Museum official site
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