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Go south along the carriage road between Kensington and Hyde Garden, and you will suddenly find yourself walking on a mosaic street. It seems that the relationship between pedestrians and vehicles can only rely on the restraint of both sides. This is the exhibition road. "Exhibition Hall Road" passes the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. If you keep your attention on the west side of this road, you are likely to miss the largest museum in this area-V&; The wing of the museum is on the other side of the road.
(V & ampa meets the entrance of Exhibition Hall Road)
V & Victoria and Albert Victoria refer to Queen Victoria; Albert refers to the queen's husband, Prince Albert. However, when the name was officially used in this museum (1899), the prince had been dead for 38 years. The name of this museum can be said to be the queen's mourning for her beloved late husband. Albert not only helped the queen in education, welfare, abolition of serfdom and constitutional monarchy; He was favored by Victoria from the moment he met her, and there is another reason: his love for art is quite in line with young Victoria. Speaking of it, south kensington's prosperity in education and culture stems from a series of expenses after the first World Expo held in Hyde Park not far away 185 1, and the driving force for the success of that World Expo was Prince Albert himself, then president of the Royal Academy of Arts. Then, the collection room, which used to teach at the London School of Design, should mention the name of the Queen's "wife" in the south kensington Museum (which used to have a name), which was relocated and expanded with the proceeds of the World Expo and displayed to the public.
(Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are at their home in Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England)
This is why the museum opened in 1857 has been expanded and improved all the way to welcome the 20th century with a new name.
And the expansion along the way is also very interesting. Judging from the plane changes provided by plan A, you can not only find that the museum is constantly full on the road leading to public cultural buildings, but also feel that the south kensington area around it has gradually evolved from suburban fields.
(The main facade entrance has been formed)
however
The world's first gas museum, the world's first museum with a restaurant, covers an area almost equal to that of the British Museum, but problems have gradually emerged in operation: in order to display rich collections, the original interior decoration has been ruthlessly destroyed; Colored glass windows and mosaics are also considered as obstacles to display or use, and are removed; In closed, crowded, winding, dark and sultry museums, Asian porcelain, Islamic carpets or Renaissance prints without instructions have become tasteless. In addition, the sculptures and imitations of ancient buildings used in the teaching of the School of Design inexplicably give people a cheap atmosphere.
V & ampa's reputation once declined, and there were fewer tourists.
But just like the growth rhythm of this museum in the second half of the19th century, it is still trying to change. This is also an interesting place in this museum.
Whether it is the British Festival held in 195 1 year, or the rock concert held in the museum in 1973 to attract young people and related presentations (Gryphon Griffin, a popular avant-garde country rock band in the 1970s, was invited to the concert, and after listening to their songs, I don't know why I wanted to play Adventure Island), it all expressed the museum's unremitting efforts. In 1980s, Roy Strong, the curator of the museum, made a very important adjustment. He thought, since his museum emphasizes art and design, why not show it from the museum itself? This seemingly natural thing actually makes V &；; After that, the changing direction of A suddenly became clear. The name of the museum was also changed to Victoria and Albert Museum, National Museum of Art and Design (Victoria &; Albert Museum-National Museum of Art and Design). The world's largest museum dedicated to art and design slowly surfaced. A museum with a heavy background that embraces modern technology and has an excellent exhibition experience is gradually taking shape.
By 20 12, the annual number of visitors will reach 3.2 million, only half of that of the British Museum, but it is easy for visitors to compare the winners and losers of the two museums. Even just talk about indoor furnishings, V &；; A should not lose to the former.
(V & Sculpture Gallery in the Middle Ages and Renaissance)
More importantly, V &；; Since 2000, A has experienced the expected 20-year evolution-future plan. This time, the young designer intends to play a leading role in the transformation, and the plan to integrate with the original museum culture has many bright spots. Although I can't list them all, I can pick out a few and recommend them. Maybe I can have a look next time Zhihu's friend goes.
From the first and second floors of the main exhibition hall, enter V &；; A, through the protruding dome of the south main facade tower, you can reach the zigzag area on the V&, which is the front desk for consulting and selling tickets (most permanent pavilions in the V& are free to enter, but some special and time-limited pavilions need to be purchased. On the right of the information desk are galleries of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, which have given photos before. The furniture and lighting are very good. If you go inside, you can also go to Simon sainsbury Gallery, where some guys from old houses are cleverly displayed.
However, if you go left from the information desk, the small pavilion you enter will always undertake the display of some cutting-edge designers or teams. For example, Thomas Heatherwick held an exhibition there a few years ago.
Then go north from the service desk. The Middle East Islamic Cultural Center (Zone 4) in the yellow frame is built around a Persian carpet of 10.5m*5m, which is the Erbil carpet mentioned by a friend upstairs, but in my impression, the only carpet in the world has been in V&I kept it in A (the other one is in Los Angeles), but I couldn't meet the public because I couldn't find a suitable exhibition. In a previous BBC program, the current person in charge let the carpet unfold in front of the excited host and generously said that you can stand up if you like (she means standing on the cloth to protect the side of the carpet). As a result, the host almost stepped on the carpet and the person in charge was green in the face. . . The next picture jumps directly to the host standing on the side honestly. . .
Now at least this carpet can be seen by the public.
To tell the truth, I haven't finished walking on the first floor and the second floor. Except for the red dotted line 1 1 (showing fashion, primary school girls who can't hold pencils are surrounded by gorgeous cast court dresses and painting lace wedding dresses as a handful of leeks, which makes me intoxicated) and the blue dotted line (there are often paid exhibitions here, with high specifications, such as 20 13 medieval famous paintings 700-65438), although they are all imitations taught before,
(1: 1 Trajan's column was cut in half because it was too big. . . )
The coordinates of the big pillar? The circle marked on the picture is.
Then, the north 13 area of Fashion Museum has always been V &；; A is near an outdoor courtyard on Exhibition Hall Road, but it will carry an important expansion project, which can be combined with-1 floor ~
Underground expansion is a common method in the expansion project of historical buildings. V & ampA's-1 floor (here, the 0-floor) has such an expansion (the 7 areas in the dotted box on the west and left extend underground 15 meters, connecting the existing museum subway entrance).
The expansion project costing 42 million pounds was designed by AL_A Company and is expected to be completed in 20 16. If you go now, it will still look like this:
On the other hand, in the ground floor space, there is a ladies' room that I am curious about. . .
Come in from the gate (the entrance in the middle of the south building) and take the stairs on the side to the first floor. The men's and women's toilets are arranged on both sides, while the women's toilets are created by Swiss artist Phyllis Varigny and the museum design team, which is visually quite interesting.
Giving up snooping in the ladies' room may be more attractive to architecture students. On the third floor, on the right is the Architectural Hall, which has designed a large number of models of various eras, and some old practices are also very enlightening. The Independent Zone 8 in the northwest is the archives of the Royal Architectural Association, but it is probably not open to the public and needs to apply for admission as a research institute.
If you are not satisfied, you can go to the next floor (there are staggered floors). The corridor marked green on the picture contains a lot of furniture, which is the exhibition space of furniture design. From desks in the1420s to modern cabinets, there are displays. It is said that NORD Architects, which is in charge of this renovation, still has some ingenious ideas of using digital technology. When he finishes, he may be able to have a look.
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Museums with sincere exhibits often have a headache how to keep visitors from being exhausted in the vast amount of information. V & ampa may provide them with groping experience. It is good to take time to visit this museum before it is as crowded as the British Museum. In addition to the huge collection, there are many places to rest in the quiet museum. If you want to satisfy your little pink literary thought, you can also go to this "world's first museum restaurant" to have a look ~