6/24 Victoria & Albert Museum

 I had more than a little trouble finding this place because I had no handy map and my GPS took me way east to the Victoria and Albert Children's Museum.  This means I spent at least an hour and a half in a hot subway car during rush hour for nothing!  The good news when i got here, to the right museum, was that it was open until 11:00 pm on this Friday with many extra events going on.  Other good news is that it was free, so I can go back tomorrow or maybe on Sunday. 

The museum was built following the 1851 World Exhibition that was sponsored by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria to preserve the examples of art and architecture that were exhibited then.  Since then, tens of thousands of items have been donated or loaned to continue the collection of modern and older art. 

In each of the square boxes in this arch is a quote from portraitist Sir Joshua Reynolds that says, "The excellence of every art must consist in the complex accomplishment of its purpose." 

 

 

It was a warm and mostly sunny day, so lots of people took advantage of this pond in the center of the courtyard.

I started out in the gold rooms.  These are a sample of the many gold snuff boxes in gold the museum displays.  I always thought snuff boxes were small so they could easily fit in a pocket.  These were huge, as big as 4" by 6" so how are people supposed to carry them?

The next area was the silver collection, or a tiny part of which is shown here. 

Would you believe this 3,5' high clock has a china tea set hidden in a drawer?  Look carefully at the partially opened drawer near the bottom.

This looks big enough to be a bath tub, but it is actually a silver wine cooler. 

And this section had gold and silver items from religious groups. The item on the left is described below. 

There is an incredible room filled with jewelry.  While I do not like to wear jewelry, I like to see it as art. This is a circle of rings in various gemstones.

Lots and lots of "baubles, bangles, and beads," all in gold with precious stones.

Victoria did not like to wear the large and heavy British crown, so her husband Albert had this small one made for her.  You can see her wearing it in many portraits.

This is the back of the museum.  Very different looking than the front!

After picking up a couple of items from the gift shop, I headed to the Trafalger Theatre to see a performance of Jersey Boys.  Terrific show.

 My Fitbit says I took 5,473 steps today and walked 2.2 miles.