Victoria & Albert Museum

When I first got my new Nikon I decided to take it to the V& A Museum for a little practice run.  The V&A is one of the first museums that I visited in London and one of my favorites.  I also love that you can take photographs.

The museum first opened in 1857 as the South Kensington Museum and was renamed by Queen Victoria soon after.

Here are a few fun facts about the museum and some of the photos that I took that day. 

The V&A was the first museum to start adding photographs to their art collections.  

The museum covers 12 acres.  This is a museum you can get lost in for hours.

There are seven miles to cover, winding through 145 galleries covering 5,000 years of art.

The South Kensington Museum was the first museum to provide a public restaurant and it's still a great place to get a bite to eat.

This was also the first museum to use gas lighting so that the public could visit during the evening hours.

Henry Cole, the first director stated "the evening opening of public museums may furnish a powerful antidote to the gin palace."

It was important to Cole that the museum was accessible to to the masses, whether aristocrat or dock worker. 

So instead of heading off to the gin palace tonight make your way over to the Victoria & Albert Museum.  And don't miss the Cast Courts.  It's my favorite gallery and where you can see the cast of Michelangelo's David.

Which do you prefer, a museum or a gin palace? 

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