Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum has the largest collection of decorative arts and design in the world

With a collection exceeding 4.5 million different items, London's Victoria and Albert Museum is unrivalled in it's category. In spite of having 145 galleries spread over 51000 square metres, only a portion of the massive collection of fine arts can be displayed at any one time. Items go back as far as 5000 years and cover nearly every medium of art.

Here you will find a vast collection of items including, sculptures, textiles, glass and ceramics, jewellery, silver, iron works, furniture, textiles, costumes, prints, photographs and drawings from every corner of the world.

The Victoria and Albert museum is named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The first building on the site was constructed in 1857. Subsequent expansions and updates have resulted in today's large museum and it's variety of architecture. Another feature is a central garden area with a water feature and summertime cafe. Inside there is a cafe offering hot and cold meals that is open year round.

Since the Victoria and Albert Museum is a public museum, admission to all of it's permanent galleries is free, making it a great place to visit even when travelling on a budget.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is open daily from 10 am to 5:45 pm and until 10 pm on Fridays except on December 24-26th.

This museum is located on Exhibition Road adjacent to both the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, so you may want to consider visiting them while in the area.

For more information about the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as exhibitions and hours visit their official website: Victoria and Albert Museum

Inside one of the 145 Galleries of the Victoria and Albert Museum cc licensed flickr photo shared by gailf548

Entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum cc licensed flickr photo shared by Ewan-M