V&A

The Victoria and Albert Museum – known as the V&A – is the world’s leading museum of art and design, with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity. The Museum was established following the enormous success of the Great Exhibition in 1852 to make works of art available to all and to inspire British designers and manufacturers. Today the V&A’s extensive collections of artefacts continue to intrigue, inspire and inform. The Museum’s collections span over two thousand years of human creativity, in virtually every medium, from many of the world's richest cultures. They include paintings, sculpture, architecture, ceramics, furniture, fashion and textiles, theatre and performance, photography, glass, jewellery and metalwork. The collections are drawn from across Europe and include magnificent holdings from the Middle East, India, China and Japan. In addition to its permanent collection, the Museum also hosts world-class temporary exhibitions and has a varied programme of events.