Victoria and Albert Museum

London, United Kingdom

© Victoria and Albert Museum© Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert (V&A) is the world’s leading museum of art and design, with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity. When the museum opened to the public in 1852, its mission was to reform design by making works of art available to all, improving the public’s understanding of the subject and providing inspiration for designers and manufacturers. Today, the V&A’s collections span over 5,000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium and from many parts of the world.

The V&A comprises a family of sites, including the V&A in South Kensington, Young V&A located in Bethnal Green, V&A Dundee in Scotland, the V&A Wedgwood Collection housed in Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, V&A Gallery at Design Society in Shekou, China, and opening in 2024/25 will be V&A East located within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford. Across these sites the museum showcases their collections to a wide range of audiences and aims to champion design and creativity in all its forms.

The V&A has specialised in collecting art and design from the Islamic world since the 1850s, and it was the first institution in the world to collect Islamic art in a systematic fashion. The museum's founders believed that Islamic ideas about structuring patterns and matching decoration to shape and function could improve British design. The collection grew to become the most significant in its field. Outstanding works include the AH 10th / AD 16th-century Ardabil carpet from Iran, a rock crystal ewer from AH 5th / AD 11th-century Egypt, and the world’s greatest collections of Islamic ceramics. The museum also houses the national collection of Islamic textiles.

Address(es)
Cromwell Road
South Kensington
SW7 2RL
London
United Kingdom
T +44 207 9422000
F +44 207 9422335

www.vam.ac.uk

Senior Curator, Middle East
Tim Stanley
T +44 207 942 2338
F +44 207 942 2335
t.stanley@vam.ac.uk



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