Cast Courts, Replica gallery at Victoria and Albert Museum in London, United Kingdom
The Cast Courts are two tall halls within the Victoria and Albert Museum displaying full-size plaster reproductions of European architectural and sculptural masterworks. They hold copies of celebrated monuments like Trajan's Column and the Portal of Santiago de Compostela that visitors can examine in detail.
The museum opened these galleries in 1873 to display precise replicas of international works and give the public access to distant artworks. The collection grew during an era when photography and travel were limited, making plaster casts the best way to study major artworks.
These galleries house exact copies of significant European monuments, including Trajan's Column from Rome and the Portico de la Gloria from Santiago de Compostela.
The halls are open and well-lit, allowing you to study the details of the large-scale replicas comfortably. Since the spaces are very tall and many objects sit at height, it is worth exploring slowly from different angles.
Some of the casts preserve artworks that have since been lost or severely damaged after the molds were taken. This makes the gallery a valuable record of cultural heritage that no longer exists elsewhere.
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