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Victoria And Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum is known as a museum for the decorative arts. But to think of the V&A's collection merely in terms of decoration is to miss the significance of its history.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is a product of the modern industrial age. Before the late eighteenth century crafts people conceived of and generally made their products. With the advent of industrialisation a group of people known as designers came into being. It was the job of a designer to create a product which could then be produced by industrial means. Initially there was a lack of design expertise, since this had never been seen as an individual skill before. There was a sense that design only had to concern itself with ornamentation. Inspite of the technical accomplishments of British engineers in the nineteenth century it soon became apparent that Britain was falling behind in terms of design. This was made clear by the Great Exhibition of 1851. While the crowds were making the Exhibition a huge popular success, industry observers were comparing British goods on display with those from abroad and found them wanting. A year after the Great Exhibition the Museum of Manufacturers was founded by the civil servant, designer and writer Henry Cole. Using a collection acquired mainly from the Exhibition the Museum's aim was to promote art and design, and to contribute to the improvement of British products. The displays were directed towards educating students, artisans and manufacturers, as well as general visitors. Although this utilitarian aim was soon toned down, the marked improvement in design during the 1850s encouraged other countries to set up similar institutions. By 1890 almost every European capital had acquired its own Museum of Manufacturers. Germany had about thirty! The Museum of Manufacturers, called the Victoria and Albert from 1899, represented a crucial stage in the development of modern society.

Today the Museum is no longer a meeting place for design ideas. In 1913 the scientific and industrial collection was taken to the nearby Science Museum. By this time the Museum was known as the Victoria and Albert , renamed in 1899, and was dedicated to collecting decorative arts. But even if we think of the Museum in terms of decorative arts, this does not lessen the significance of its collection. The history of art shows that there was always a huge weight of expectation on areas of art considered important. For many centuries fine art was confined to churches and cathedrals, and the subject matter was proscribed by its religious setting. It was only in the decorative arts, with much lower expectations, that artists could be wider in their scope. During the Renaissance when art finally began to leave the Church, it was the decorative arts that led the way, with many famous artists engaging in this kind of work. The fifteenth century artist Botticelli, for example, painted furnishings for domestic use. Just as the decorative arts fed into the achievements of the high arts, they also fed into the achievements of the new discipline of design. Design was initially concerned mainly with ornamentation, but it soon became apparent that function could be part of the beauty of an object. And this takes us back to the type of design museum that the V and A was originally.

Another advantage of the decorative arts, from an historical point of view, is that they offer a very intimate view into history. When I visited, the section devoted to British history took me on a walk through the interiors, fashions, paintings and ceramics of the period 1500 to 1900. I saw the change from the plain clothing of Cromwell's rule, to the exuberant fashions of the Restoration that followed the return of Charles the Second to the throne. The pink silk shoes that ladies wore to their parties brought the nature of the Restoration back to me as powerfully as any history book.

The rest of the museum has collections from other parts of the world. One of the most dramatic areas of the museum is the Cast Courts, two huge, sky-lighted rooms, two stories in height, which contain hundreds of examples of sculpture and other stone work. One of these rooms contains a full scale replica of Trajan's Column from Rome. The Museum is also the home of the national collection of photography, and since the beginning of 2007 a large collection related to theatre, which was once housed at the Theatre Museum in the West End.

As you might expect from a museum dedicated to the decorative arts, the Victoria and Albert Museum is a very beautiful place to visit. It makes you think that perhaps decoration, rather than being something superficial, is at the heart of life, like a polished sheen in which we see the depth we might seek.

As a footnote, walk down Exhibition Road past the V and A and you will notice a scattering of pits varying in size along the stone blocks of the museums walls. This is bomb damage from World War Two, left as a memorial to that conflict.

Opening Times: Open daily from 10am to 5:45pm. On Fridays 10am to 10pm with selected galleries open after 6pm. The museum is closed 24th - 26th December.

Directions: The Museum stands on the corner of Cromwell Gardens and Exhibition Road in Kensington, London. The nearest Underground station is South Kensington. A tunnel leads from the station to the complex of museums in Kensington ( the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and the V & A.) There is an entrance into the basement of the V & A directly from the tunnel leading from South Kensington Underground station. Click here for an interactive map centred on the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Access: a wide range of facilities is available for visitors with disabilities, and all the galleries are accessible by people in wheelchairs. The building is nevertheless Grade 1 listed, and was built without necessarily considering the needs of visitors with mobility problems. The Disability and Access Officer will advise on: 020 7942 2766, or e-mail: disability@vam.ac.uk Adapted toilets are available.

For visitors with hearing difficulties there are hearing loops at the Information Desks, Gallery Information Points, Lecture Theatre and retail outlets. Sound enhancement equipment is available from the Information Desk. Some videos within the galleries are subtitled.

For people with visual disabilities there are escort services, which require advance booking, tape, large print and Braille guides, and a touch programme. Ask at the Information Desk. Dedicated software for people with sight problems is available on the computer terminals within the Museum.

Contact:

telephone: main switchboard 020 7942 2000

web site: www.vam.ac.uk