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VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM
Address: Cromwell Road, SW7
Phone: (+44) (0)20 7942 2000
Nearest Tube: South Kensington on the District, Circle and Piccadilly lines.
Buses: C1, 14, 74 and 414.
Hours: 10am-5.45pm daily
10am-10pm Wednesday & last Friday of the month (except December).
Closed: 24, 25, 26 December
Admission to the V&A is free. Some exhibitions and events carry a separate charge. There are free guided tours.
The V&A houses what is generally regarded as the world's greatest collection of applied and decorative arts. What are decorative arts? They are the arts for the design and decoration of objects that are useful as well as beautiful: ceramics, glassware, basketry, pottery, jewelry, metalware, furniture, textiles, clothing, and similar are the main examples. The separation of decorative from fine arts is a modern distinction.
The Victoria & Albert Museum is in South Kensington, near the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum.
ITS HISTORY
It was founded in 1852, when the British government established the Museum of Manufacturers in Marlborough House, St. James, containing a collection of decorative arts objects previously displayed at the Crystal Palace during the Great Exhibition of 1851.
The same items were transferred to the South Kensington Museum, and redisplayed in 1857 as part of a government effort to improve taste and knowledge among those concerned with British manufactures. The collection soon outgrew its premises, and plans for a new museum were developed.
The museum was renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1899, when Queen Victoria laid the cornerstone for the present building, designed by Sir Aston Webb. This structure opened in 1909.
Since then, the museum's premises have been modified and extended, partly into adjacent buildings. The Victoria and Albert Museum is also responsible for 3 other museums in London: the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, in the borough of Tower Hamlets; the Theatre Museum, near Covent Garden, Westminster; and the Wellington Museum, in Apsley House, at the southeastern corner of Hyde Park.
ITS CONTENTS & HIGHLIGHTS
The Victoria and Albert Museum houses vast tableaux of European sculpture, ceramics (including porcelain and other pottery), furniture, metalwork, jewelry, and textiles from early medieval times to the present day.
It includes the Jones bequest of French furniture, porcelain, and other objets d'art; the Schreiber group of English ceramics, enamelwork, and glass; the Currie collection, containing fine Italian and French arms and armour; and 18th-century German porcelain that forms part of the Murray collection.
There are strong sets of Indian art, which were given an early impetus with the acquisition of materials from the East India Company's museum after it was closed in 1858. The East Asian artworks include remarkable Chinese ceramics, jade, and sculpture from the Eumorfopoulos collection.
The museum also houses the national collection of British watercolours, miniatures, prints, and drawings, among which is an outstanding group of works by John Constable. The Italian Renaissance and Baroque sculptures are some of the best outside Italy. The museum also houses the National Art Library.
VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM SHOP
Address: Cromwell Road, SW7
(+44) (0)20 7942 2000
The V&A has the most beautiful of all London museum gift shops, with its marbled and gated entrance just inside the main front entrance to the museum. Jewellery, inspired by designs from the museum's collections, is as tastefully displayed as any of the exhibits found in the galleries of the museum itself. Lovers are richly catered for by the intaglios range of Italian inspiration, containing items like 9-carate gold earrings and necklaces, or 19th-century romantic jewellery, where vintage collages combine with original metal casings. Prices range from £ 40 to 100 and upwards.
Another strong point of the shop is its collection of books for sale, among which of particular interest are those on fashion, textiles and European treasures. Other perfect gift ideas may include etched-glass coasters, paperweights, notebooks, all of which are less than £ 10, and Limoges pottery plates or hand-cast brass pots based on 16th-century Mogul design, costing £ 30 - 50 upwards. Table napkins and Christmas tree decorations with a Victorian theme on sale here are festive accessories of much more refined style than usual.
Shops stock an extensive selection of art and design books, gifts, stationery, specially commissioned jewellery, ceramics, textiles and gifts for children.
Website of the museum: Victoria and Albert Museum
London, Thursday 28th August 2008