Victoria and Albert Museum
Logo introduced in 1989 | |
The museum's main Cromwell Road entrance | |
Location within Central London | |
Former names |
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|---|---|
| Established | 1852 |
| Location | Cromwell Road, Kensington and Chelsea, London, SW7 |
| Coordinates | 51°29′48″N 00°10′19″W / 51.49667°N 0.17194°W |
| Type | Art museum |
| Collection size | 2,800,000 objects in 145 galleries |
| Visitors | 3,525,700 in 2024 |
| Director | Tristram Hunt |
| Architect | |
| Owner | Non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport |
| Public transit access |
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| Website | vam.ac.uk |
The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in the United Kingdom is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 as the "Museum of Manufactures", and subsequently renamed in honour of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
The V&A's original South Kensington site is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in an area known as "Albertopolis" because of its association with Prince Albert through the major cultural institutions with which he was associated. These include the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the Royal Albert Hall and Imperial College London. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. As with other national British museums, entrance is free.
In addition to the main South Kensington location, the museum's collection is housed in the following sites:
- V&A Dundee, which opened in 2018
- Young V&A, the former Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, London
- V&A Wedgwood Collection, the former Wedgwood Museum in Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent acquired in 2014
- V&A East Storehouse, opened in June 2025
A sixth site, the V&A East Museum is due to open in April 2026.
The South Kensington site covers 12.5 acres (5.1 ha) and has 145 galleries. Its collection spans 5,000 years, from ancient history to the present day, and includes works from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia, including art from South Asia, China, Japan, Korea and the Islamic world. The East Asian collections are particularly strong in ceramics and metalwork, while the Islamic collection is amongst the largest in the Western world.
The museum holds one of the largest collections of post-classical sculpture, with its collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture being the largest outside Italy, however, the art of antiquity in most areas is not collected. The holdings of ceramics, glass, textiles, costumes, jewellery, silver, metalwork, furniture, medieval objects, sculpture, prints, drawings, and photographs are also among the largest and most comprehensive in the world.
Overall, the V&A is one of the world's largest museums.