Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Victoria and Albert Museum is London’s art museum devoted to applied arts, decorative arts and design. Its permanent holdings contain more than 2.8 million objects, making this one of the world’s largest museums of its kind. The collection reaches across 5,000 years, bringing together objects from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia, including especially strong material from East Asia and the Islamic world.

The South Kensington site is the original London home, spread across 12.5 acres with over 145 galleries. Its story began with the Government School of Design, established in 1832 to connect artistic education with manufacturing. The museum itself dates from 1852, and Queen Victoria officially opened the South Kensington institution on 20 June 1857.

Its name honours Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. What makes this place distinctive is the range: ceramics, textiles, jewellery, furniture, sculpture, prints, photographs and many other forms of designed and made object are brought together as a single cultural collection.