Victoria and Albert Museum

has its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851. With Henry Cole as its first director, and known as the Museum of Manufactures, the museum first opened to the general public in May 1852 at Marlborough House. By September the collection, which included scientific displays, had been transferred to Somerset House. Several of the exhibits from the opening Exhibition were purchased by the museum to form the kernel of the V&A collection. to transfer the museum to South Kensington and change the name to the South Kensington Museum. In 1855 the German architect Gottfried Semper, at the request of Cole, produced a design for the museum, but it was rejected by the Board of Trade as too expensive.…

In 2004, the V&A alongside Royal Institute of British Architects opened the first permanent gallery in the UK covering the history of architecture with displays using models, photographs, elements from buildings and original drawings. At the same time, the RIBA Drawings and Archives Collection was transferred to the museum, joining the already extensive collection held by the V&A. With over 600,000 drawings, over 750,000 papers and paraphernalia, and over 700,000 photographs, together they form the world's most comprehensive architectural resource. Many European and American architects' drawings are held in the collection. The RIBA's holdings of over 330 drawings by Andrea Palladio are the…

ballgown by Oscar de la Renta displayed in August 2024)]] The V&A holds the national collection of performing arts in the UK, including drama, dance, opera, circus, puppetry, comedy, musical theatre, costume, set design, pantomime, popular music and other forms of live entertainment. The Theatre and Performance collections were founded in the 1920s when private collector, Gabrielle Enthoven, donated her collection of theatrical memorabilia to the V&A. In 1974 two further independent collections were compiled to form a comprehensive performing arts collection at the V&A. The collections were displayed at the Theatre Museum, which operated from Covent Garden until closing in 2007. Theatre and…