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V A Victoria and Albert Museum

Museums ·London ·Open now
4.7102K
#1Museums in the UK#1Museums in LondonTravelers' Choice Best of the Best 2026
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About

Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is a national art museum in South Kensington, London, with collections spanning art, design and performance.

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V A Victoria and Albert Museum

V A Victoria and Albert MuseumV A Victoria and Albert MuseumV A Victoria and Albert MuseumV A Victoria and Albert MuseumV A Victoria and Albert MuseumV A Victoria and Albert MuseumV A Victoria and Albert MuseumV A Victoria and Albert MuseumV A Victoria and Albert MuseumV A Victoria and Albert Museum

Why go

  • Raphael Cartoons, lent by the Queen as designs for Sistine Chapel tapestries.
  • The largest collection of Italian Renaissance objects outside Italy.
  • The world’s largest post-classical sculpture collection, including about 22,000 European works dating from around 400 to 1914.
  • The late-14th-century Tristan Quilt, one of Europe’s three earliest surviving decorative quilts.
  • Dale Chihuly’s entrance-hall chandelier, enlarged in 2001.

Opening hours

Today10:00 – 17:45Show all
Monday10:00 – 17:45
Tuesday10:00 – 17:45
Wednesday10:00 – 17:45
Thursday10:00 – 17:45
Friday10:00 – 22:00
Saturday10:00 – 17:45
Sunday10:00 – 17:45

Don't miss

  • Ardabil carpetThe museum holds part of the Ardabil carpet pair, described as the world’s oldest surviving carpet.In the museum’s collection
  • Cast CourtsTwo top-lit rooms with mezzanines hold hundreds of plaster casts of sculptures, friezes and tombs.Cast Courts

Know before you go

  • Opening hours: Monday–Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 10:00–17:45; Friday, 10:00–22:00.

What's inside

  • Collections range from paintings and photographs to ceramics, furniture, jewellery, clothing and musical instruments.
  • The Medieval and Renaissance galleries display more than 1,800 objects across ten galleries on three floors of the Aston Webb building.
  • A glass-roofed gallery links the Medieval and Renaissance galleries’ floors and displays the façade of Paul Pinder’s house.
  • The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection reopened in March 2026 in four refurbished rooms, three converted from former offices.
  • The Gilbert Collection displays emphasize micromosaics and explain the objects’ ownership histories.
  • The Photography Centre presents photographs and includes a reading room and two temporary-exhibition galleries.
  • The main museum displays the Theatre Museum collection. An exhibit explores the sights, sounds and memories of Glastonbury Festival.
  • The Exhibition Road Quarter includes a column-free, 1,100-square-metre underground exhibition gallery accessed through Blavatnik Hall.
  • The John Madejski Garden has an elliptical water feature and temporary exhibits.
  • The courtyard pavilion contains a café and museum shop.
  • The Design 1900–Now galleries reopened in February 2026 with 250 items, including 60 new additions.

With kids

  • The museum regularly offers activities for children.

Tips for your visit

  • Use the museum’s maps to choose collections before exploring the galleries.
  • The Fashion Gallery closed at the end of 2025 for rebuilding and is scheduled to reopen in spring 2027.

Interesting facts3

1/3
  1. 2.27 million

    The collection contains more than 2.27 million objects.

    Victoria and Albert Museum - Wikipedia
  2. 145 galleries

    Its 145 galleries across five hectares cover 5,000 years of art.

    Victoria and Albert Museum - Wikipedia
  3. 19,000 objects

    The Islamic collection holds over 19,000 objects, from the early Islamic period through the early 20th century.

    Victoria and Albert Museum - Wikipedia

Shorts

History

The museum was the first part of Albertopolis, a group of museums and educational institutions. Its early collection included plaster casts, engravings and objects from the 1851 exhibition. Gifts later expanded the holdings, including John Sheepshanks’s British paintings and donated porcelain, ceramics, models and sculptures.

  1. 1852On 19 May, the museum opened in five rooms at Marlborough House as the Museum of Manufactures. Prince Albert and Henry Cole planned it to show how art could be applied to crafts.
  2. 1857The collections moved to new premises, and the institution became the South Kensington Museum.
  3. 1899After decades of construction, the museum took the name Victoria & Albert Museum.
  4. 1899–1909The Aston Webb galleries were added to the front of the museum.
  5. 1914Auguste Rodin gave the museum more than twenty of his works.
Show all
  1. 2017The Exhibition Road Quarter opened, designed by Amanda Levete’s practice AL A, commissioned in 2011.

How to get there

  • TrainSouth Kensington Underground station connects to the museum basement through a pedestrian tunnel.
  • On footThe museum stands on Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL, near the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum.

Sources: Victoria and Albert Museum - Wikipedia · London/South Kensington-Chelsea - Wikivoyage (s… · V&A South Kensington · Visit the V&A · Explore the Collections · V&A · Victoria and Albert Museum - Wikipedia · Victoria and Albert Museum - Wikipedia · V A Victoria and Albert Museum: booking (its ow… · checked 5 Oct 2026

Where
Cromwell Road, London

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