Victoria and Albert Museum
World's largest museum of decorative arts and design with 5,000 years of art from around the globe. Free admission to permanent galleries.
About
The world's greatest design museum houses 2.3 million objects spanning 5,000 years—where else can you find Raphael's cartoons, Elton John's boots, and a mechanical tiger eating a British soldier? Prince Albert's 1852 vision of improving British design through inspiration created this democratic temple where fashion meets furniture, ceramics meet computers.
Treasures & Galleries
The Cast Courts astound with plaster copies of unmovable masterpieces—Trajan's Column spirals skyward while Michelangelo's David poses perfectly. British Galleries trace 500 years from Tudor oak to contemporary glass. The Ardabil Carpet (1540) rivals paintings for beauty; the Great Bed of Ware sleeps 15.
Fashion galleries showcase everything from 18th-century court dress to McQueen's savage beauty. The new Exhibition Road entrance features 15,000 porcelain tiles—contemporary craft meeting historic collections.
Beyond Display Cases
Friday Lates transform galleries into social spaces with DJs, talks, and pop-up bars. Practical workshops teach bookbinding, jewelry-making, and textile printing. The V&A was the first museum with a café (1868)—still serving in the world's oldest museum restaurant rooms.
Free entry, suggested donation. Download the app for object stories. Don't miss: the jewelry galleries' sparkle, the sculpture courts' serenity, the shop's design excellence. Multiple entrances—use Exhibition Road to avoid crowds.