The unmissable museum London
Posted on May 17, 2010
Sculpture, fashion, antique furniture, photography, drawing, jewelry, pottery. The permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London includes million pieces spanning eras, cultures and continents.
It is impossible to traverse in a day. Or in a week. And is that the numbers from Victoria & Albert Museum (V & A) in London speak for themselves: 4.5 million pieces, 145 galleries and 5000 years of history and world culture scattered within its walls and windows.
He is considered the more decorative art museum in the world and since its founding in 1852, has been expanding in every way: size, collections, themes and number of annual visitors.
Located in the area informally known as "Albertopolis" (in the district of South Kensington), the V & A is at the epicenter of a cultural activity area. Very close to it are the Natural History Museum, the Royal College of Music and the Royal Geographical Society, among other important galleries.
All to see
Of the permanent collections of the V & A include the furnishings of Le Corbusier and Marcel Breuer, about 10 000 gold and silver objects (of various periods and geographies) and goldsmith work of the sixteenth century (Nicholas Hillliard thumbnails, for example).
In the photography section, the V & A boasts a remarkable variety of authors and styles. There are, among others, work of Frenchman Henri Cartier-Bresson (who covered the Spanish Civil War), a negative 8000 Cecil Beaton and various works of Gustave Le Gray, and Fox Talbot (precursor photogenic drawings).
For sculptures, some of the recurring names in this museum are the Renaissance Benvenuto Cellini, and the British Rossellino Antonio Nicholas Stone, Thomas Brock, Lord Leighton and Sir Francis Chantrey.
Until mid-September, the V & A exhibits dozens of garments worn by Grace Kelly.
The fashion in this museum also has a prominent place. You can see from a recent collection of British Vivienne Westwood (with 178 costumes) to garments designed by Pierre Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy and Coco Chanel.
Now, Grace Kelly
Beyond the permanent collection, the V & A is characterized by a constant renewal of its agenda. Currently, the dresses of the legendary Grace Kelly-the reality and the fiction-are on display until September 16.
