V&A South Kensington
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The more you see, the more we do.
The National Art Pass lets you enjoy free entry to hundreds of museums, galleries and historic places across the UK, while raising money to support them.
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Discover five millennia of art and design at London’s V&A Museum, where 2.3m objects are housed in a building of outstanding craftsmanship.
The V&A Museum in London is a treasure trove of human creativity. Sculpture, fashion, photography, furniture, mechanical models and more grace its galleries, drawn from a permanent collection that spans a 5,000-year period.
Over 2,000 portrait miniatures and entire historic rooms are amongst a number of national collections, unsurpassed elsewhere in the UK, that the V&A is home to. Other highlights originate from around the world, including priceless rarities such as a set of seven cartoons by Renaissance master Raphael. World-first retrospectives such as Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty have drawn from this exceptional collection.
The V&A’s current home, a shining example of Victorian craftsmanship, was preceded by a temporary, 81 metre-long iron structure lampooned for its ugliness. Its replacement took over 50 years to finish. Astonishingly, the original museum also included a Gallery of False Principles – a showcase of ‘bad’ design that was closed within two weeks due to complaints from the exhibits’ manufacturers.
Today, visitors can enjoy three separate shops and a historic café alongside the V&A’s galleries. The museum’s peaceful John Madejski Garden hosts temporary outdoor installations, while on Level 2 researchers can draw on around one million books in the National Art Library.
Why you should go
Interior decoration by leading Victorian artists
A collection spanning five centuries of fashion
Once-in-a-lifetime exhibitions
