Victoria and Albert Museum Tour: A Guided Crash Course

The Victoria and Albert Museum possesses one of the world's greatest collections of decorative art and design, with a collection running the gamut from preparatory materials for the Sistine Chapel to exquisite Islamic art, like the Ardabil Carpet. Our Victoria and Albert Museum Tour, led by a local historian, explores not only the history of the V&A, delving into its origins in the 1851 Great Exhibition, but also provides a comprehensive look at a few of the most important galleries in this expansive museum.

**Please note that the V&A Fashion Gallery will be closed for remodeling until Spring 2027**

After receiving a brief overview of the museum's history outside the building, our V&A tour will continue inside the museum with a visit to the famous Raphael Cartoons (1515-16), which were created by Raphael as preparatory drawings for tapestries intended to hang in the Sistine Chapel, but which today are considered works of art in their own right. Raphael's drawings depict scenes from the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul; we will analyze each in some depth with a discussion of the history of the cartoons, the Renaissance ideals in art, and the relationship between painting and tapestry weaving. We will continue by discussing the history of art and sculpture in the sculpture galleries with works by the Baroque sculptor Bernini, the neoclassical artist Canova, and the late-nineteenth-century sculptor Rodin before moving on to the Cast Courts, which contain casts of artworks and objects from around Europe. The collection includes casts of Michelangelo's sixteenth-century 'David', the first-century Trajan's Column, and the spectacular sixteenth-century tomb of St. Sebaldus. Here, we will discuss the Victorian interest in collecting casts.

From the Cast Court, we'll move to the British Galleries, which chart the changes in British art and design from the Tudor monarchs in the 1500s to Queen Victoria in 1901, in order to consider in greater depth how different styles arose over the centuries and how the social, cultural, and historical contexts influenced these changes. We will focus on a diverse array of objects such as the sixteenth-century 'Great Bed of Ware', the writing box belonging to Henry VIII, the eighteenth-century Rococo music room from Norfolk House, and the Arts and Crafts style as represented by William Morris in the late nineteenth century.

We will then compare this emphasis on style and design in Western European production with a visit to the Islamic Gallery, where we will focus on the sixteenth-century 'Ardabil carpet' in relation to the function and design of the art object in the Islamic world as well as the tension that developed between art production and science. Here, we will also explore the effects of trade and cultural exchange on design.

Then, depending on time and interest, we can explore the extensive fashion collection (on which we also offer a Victoria and Albert Museum Fashion Tour), visit the exquisite jewelry galleries, or alternatively discuss the form and function of glass over the centuries.

The Museum’s collections span over 2000 years of human creativity, in virtually every medium and drawn from across Europe, the Middle East, India, China, Japan, and many other parts of the world.

Yes, the tallest object in the collections is a plaster cast of Trajan’s Column, reproduced from the marble original in Rome. It is displayed in two separate towers, which, if put together, would reach 35.6 m high.

No, unless you want to see one of the temporary exhibitions, the museum is free. However, donations are greatly appreciated.