Daily: 10.00 – 17.45
Friday: 10.00 – 22.00
Victoria and Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London, SW7 2RL
The closest stations are :
The Victoria and Albert Museum first opened in 1852 as the Museum of Manufactures at Marlborough House and then transferred to Somerset House. At the time, the collections consisted of applied art and science. The Museum's founding principles were to instruct the public on all matters relating to good design.
In 1854, it was renamed South Kensington Museum. In 1857, the new buildings supposed to house the museum, including the Sheepshanks Gallery, were completed and Queen Victoria officially opened the new museum on 20th June 1857. Over the years, a great number of new galleries were added to the Sheepshanks Gallery. In the 1880s, Aston Webb was appointed architect for the new main building. Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone in May 1899. It was then that the museum became the Victoria and Albert Museum. The opening ceremony for the Aston Webb building by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra took place on 26 June 1909.
Today, the museum's collections are split into four curatorial departments :
You can also visit the Young V&A, in Bethnal Green, which displays objects by and for children.
In September 2018, the V&A Dundee opened in Scotland. It's the first design museum in Scotland.
This major exhibition will celebrate the extraordinary creative output and internationalist culture of the Golden Age of the Mughal Court (about 1560 – 1660) during the reigns of its most famous emperors: Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan.
The first exhibition of its kind exploring the extraordinary career of fashion model Naomi Campbell. Through the work of leading global designers and photographers we celebrate her creative collaborations, activism and far-reaching cultural impact.