Victoria and Albert Museum, Design and art museum in South Kensington, London, England
The Victoria and Albert Museum is a large institution dedicated to applied arts and design in South Kensington, central London. Its collection spreads across more than a hundred rooms displaying furniture, jewelry, glass, textiles, ceramics, and fashion from many centuries.
The building opened in 1852 as the South Kensington Museum, months after the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. Its current name was adopted in 1899 to honor the late queen and her consort, both of whom had supported the project.
Visitors come to see objects from daily life elevated into art, from teapots to entire room interiors transported and rebuilt inside the galleries. Students and designers often sit sketching in the halls, using the collection as a living reference for their own work.
The entrance sits on Cromwell Road, a short walk from South Kensington Underground station. Most permanent galleries are free to enter, and the building stays open until late afternoon every day, with extended hours on Friday evenings.
The building contains three notebooks by Leonardo da Vinci kept in its library, filled with sketches and thoughts from the 16th century. It also houses complete historic shop interiors brought from other parts of England and reassembled inside the galleries.
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