The Victoria and Albert Museum

The origins of The Victoria and Albert Museum can be traced back to the Great Exhibition of 1851. 

During the first years, the collections covered both applied art and science. 

On the current site of the museum was a building called Brompton Park House, extended to suit the needs of the new museum. 

When it opened in 1857, it was the first museum of its kind in the world. 

Already in 1858, the V&A extended their opening hours, made possible by gas lighting. 

This was to make sure that the museum and its collections were available also to the working class. 

The intent was to inspire visitors to become more interested in applied art and science, to boost the UK’s productive industry. 

The role of the museum was thus a practical one, integrated with the development of the Empire and adapting its industries to fit the needs of the future. 

In this way, the V&A was quite different from most other museums, where the perspective tends to be directed backwards in time. 

Museums are generally places of collective memories, not platforms for building a better future, but the V&A was designed to be both. 

One aspect of this was that the collection should be used for art education, which led to the creation of the Art Training School, later to become the Royal College of Art (which achieved full independence from the museum in 1949). 

It wasn’t until 1899 that the museum received its current name. 

Before, it was known as the South Kensington Museum. 

During the name-changing ceremony, Queen Victoria stated that, “I trust that it will remain for ages a Monument of discerning Liberality and a Source of Refinement and Progress.” 

For more than a century, the V&A has remained one of the most significant cultural institutions in the world. 

Few other museums can match the historical significance of its collections, in combination with cutting-edge temporary exhibitions. In particular, they are known for their fashion collections, often taken on international tours after the exhibition period at the V&A ends.

This level of quality can be maintained thanks to the large number of specialized scholars working fulltime at the museum. 

In 1914, the museum was split in two, as the science department developed into a museum of its own, the Science Museum. 

Because of the many twists and turns in the museum’s history, where new sections have been added and parts of the collections have been transferred to other museums (the content of the Turner and Vernon Galleries transported to the Tate Gallery), the building feels like a massive maze. 

The north range of the building was designed in the 1860s, inspired by Italian Renaissance, which is noticeable in the use of terracotta, brick, and mosaic. 

The north façade was intended as the main entrance to the museum, which is why it has such impressive bronze doors, with six panels depicting six important sciences and types of art, representing the range of the museum’s collections. 

Thankfully, the building survived the Second World War with only minor bomb damage – the worst loss was the Victorian stained glass on the Ceramics Staircase, which was blown in when bombs fell nearby. 

Victoria and Albert Museum