Victoria & Albert Museum

Logo of Victoria & Albert Museum

The promotion of knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of art and design was the founding mission of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and remains so today. Growing out of the Government School of Design, the Department of Science and Art and the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, the V&A is dedicated to the radical, utilitarian and entrepreneurial aim of educating and inspiring people through collections. Research and training have always been at the heart of that project: the V&A was the first national museum to create a designated Research Department, which is home to the world’s oldest postgraduate programme in the History of Design. We hold many of the UK’s national collections and house some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, textiles, furniture, fashion, photography, sculpture, ceramics, Asian art and design, the book arts, theatre and performance and the cultures of childhood. Last year over 3.6 million visits were made to the V&A’s main sites, with many more being made to our touring exhibitions across the world.

www.vam.ac.uk