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Victoria and Albert Museum

Museum · South Kensington, England

The Victoria and Albert Museum stands on Cromwell Road and opens daily 10.00–17.45, and on Friday until 22.00, though some galleries close after 17.45. The galleries begin clearing 30 minutes before closing, and the museum closes 24–26 December. Admission is free. The collection holds over 2.8 million objects spanning every creative discipline and more than 5,000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium, and more than 1.25 million of those objects are searchable online.

History

The museum began as the Museum of Manufactures in 1852, and Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of the present Aston Webb building in 1899. The building is listed at Grade I under the name 'VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM', NHLE 1190187, and the Cole Wing is a separate entry at Grade II*, NHLE 1080654. The museum is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and over 85% of its public spaces have been transformed in the past 15 years.

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Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

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