Victoria & Albert Museum, London

I sheepishly admit that in all these years - and literally dozens of trips to the museums in South Kensington - I had never set foot inside the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum before last December!

Probably it's because it's hard to abandon your old favourites, and from the time that I was small, some of my happiest memories are of my Mum taking us on our annual summer outing to the Natural History Museum. My husband and kids also share my passion for the Natural History Museum, and in recent years, we have also started to explore the excellent Science Museum.

And although I had always admired its external architecture (and, as it turns out, the inner courtyard is even more beautiful) somehow the V&A always got left out - maybe because the idea of a museum dedicated to art and design seemed more rarified.

Our visit to the V&A was fleeting as we had limited time, and the principal reason for our visit was that we were famished and in search of a late lunch! Purely by happenstance, it was an inspired decision, as the V&A cafe is located in the Morris, Gamble and Poynter Rooms, which formed the first museum restaurant in the world and were intended as a showpiece of modern design, craftsmanship and manufacturing. The surroundings are sumptuous and the food good - possibly a tad on the expensive side for cafe fare, but when you consider the setting, it's well worth it. Certainly an excellent choice for an elegant but informal lunch.

Sadly we only had time to briefly visit the jawdropping William and Judith Bollinger jewellery gallery, which was like stumbling into an Aladdin's cave. Everything about the collection - from the quality of the exhibits to the fitments and the lightning is perfect, and it would be possible to spend an hour in this gallery alone. When we were there, there were limited duration exhibitions on Diagilhev and the Ballet Russe, as well as Imperial Robes from the Forbidden City - the first of which I would have particularly have loved to have seen if we'd have had time - so check the website to see what's scheduled for the time of your visit

A word of caution if you're travelling with children: my instinct was right in that the V&A's subject matter is more 'grown up' than that of other museums in the area, and smaller children could quickly get bored. I would suggest that this would only really appeal to children from late primary school age (say 8) upwards, unless there is a particular exhibition that particularly appeals, I would rather take smaller kiddywinks to one of the other museums.

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It's one of the world's greatest museums of art and design.

The Victoria and Albert museum was set up in 1852 to display decorative art, applied art and design.

Museum Opening Hours:

10.00 to 17.45 daily
10.00 to 22.00 Wednesdays and the last Friday of the month (selected galleries remain open after 18.00)

free

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This is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. Named after Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, it was founded in 1852, and has since grown to now cover 12.5 acres (51,000 m2)[2] and 145 galleries. Its collection spans 5,000 years of art, from ancient times to the present day, in virtually every medium, from the cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
We only saw a minute part of this museum - you would need a full day to see it all. The displays are well presented and the museum easy to negotiate with easy to follow guide maps although we struggled to find the exit! The garden is wonderful and we had a full meal in the well appointed restaurant (try the beef and ale pie).
Admission is free (apart from special exhibitions) and disabled access good.

I may be unfair, but I felt really uncomfortable in Victoria and Albert Museum.

I felt that the display had too many pieces, somehow mixed, resembling more a receptor’s warehouse than the proud exhibition of respected pieces of art.

Victoria and Albert museum is one of three fantastic museums in South-Kensington. The other ones being The Science museum and The Natural history museum (see my tip). Unfortunately I lost my photos of both The Science museum and The Victoria and Albert museum, so I can only add one photo of the museum building itself. I had visited all these three museums in one day - not recommended though, as each one deserves one day to enjoy them to the fullest. And Victoria and Albert museum contains 4.5 million objects, so it is a day's work enjoying them all.

Victoria and Albert museum is so vast and has 145 galleris, so that you can easily get lost in there and a rest in the beautiful John Majeski garden is a good idea. There are wonderful sculptures and painting galleries. And special galleries on Asian countries and others on European countries, very well made. There is a gallery on fashion through the years and when I was visiting they had a special exhibition of Grace Kelly's dresses. That was the main reason why I wanted to visit in May 2010 ;)

Opening hours: Every day: 10-17:45 - Fridays: 10-22.

Admission is free.

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Officially defined as a museum of "fine and applied arts" to me it has more of the feel of a very rich person's attic- a mish-mosh of all kinds of things from all over the world. A few of the galleries look like the last scenes of the movie "National Treasure" where there seems to be an endless supply of artifacts and statues. They are casts of famous objects d' art from all over Europe. The idea was to provide young and poor students, who couldn't afford to travel to see the originals, with the opportunity to see and study them.
One of the big draws is the Great Bed of Ware, made in 1590, and mentioned by Shakespeare in "Twelfth Night".
Happily this museum, like several others in London, doesn't charge admission but is by donation only.

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Commonly referred to as the V&A, the Victoria and Albert Museum is one of London's largest. It displays an important collection of decorative arts spanning 5000 years, gathered from all over the world. It was originally called the South Kensington Museum when it opened in 1857, but in 1899, it was renamed after the royal couple by Queen Victoria herself. The museum building was expanded over a few decades by different architects, which explains the mix of architectural styles, including Gothic and Renaissance. The first construction and ensuing expansions were designed by Francis Fowke, who also worked on the Royal Albert Hall nearby. Note that admission to the museum is free of charge.

V&A is the greatest museum of art and design, a world treasure house with collections of fabulous scope and diversity. The Museum holds over 3000 years worth of artefacts from many of the world's richest cultures.

I spent hours in this museum, even enough to simply sit in the victorian rooms and take a moment, is like stepping back in time,,
Got to be seen,,