Topic summary
Victoria and Albert Museum
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.
The Victoria and Albert Museum collection is housed across six sites in the United Kingdom. This "family of museums" comprises;-
- V&A South Kensington, the museum's original London site which covers 12.5 acres (5.1 ha) in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London and has over 145 galleries.
- Young V&A, opened as the V&A Bethnal Green Museum in 1872, became the Museum of Childhood in 1974 and then the Young V&A in 2023.
- V&A Dundee, opened in September 2018
- V&A Wedgwood Collection, the former Wedgwood Museum in Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent acquired in 2014
- V&A East Storehouse, opened in June 2025
- V&A East Museum, opened in April 2026.
The sites share a common website which also hosts the "Order an Object" service allowing members of the public to view individual objects at V&A East Storehouse or at South Kensington.
The museum collection spans 5,000 years, from ancient history to the present day, and includes works from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia plus 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 also holds one of the largest collections of post-classical sculpture in the world. Its collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture being the largest outside Italy, however, the art of antiquity in most areas is not the V&A's focus. 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.
The museum can trace its origins to the Government School of Design, established in 1832, and until 1983, the museum remained directly controlled by a government department, initially the Board of Education and eventually the Department of Education and Science. It is now a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. As with other national British museums, entrance is free.
Overall, the V&A is one of the world's largest museums.