Victoria And Albert Museum, 2026, II

Chronicling our second 2026 visit to the V&A South Kensington...

Heading for the entrance, admiring some of exquisite exterior sculpture

Our top priority for the day was to have a more leisurely
look at the cast courts

Back in the mid-19th century, doing plaster casts of great art and architecture
was a thing: partly for preservation, I suppose, partly to make copies to
sell, and partly for the education of the masses, few of whom would get to
go on grand tours...the V&A has two large courts of these casts, some immense,
and even if you have seen the originals, the casts are still impressive

Horny Moses (Michaelangelo), from St. Peter's in Chains, Rome

Ghiberti's bronze door to the Florence Duomo Baptistry

The copy of Trajan's victory column from Rome...so huge
(115 feet) it had to be displayed in two pieces...

Rare dorsal view from inside the the upper half of the
Trajan's column...the museum refers to this as a "quiet area,"
reinforcing my conjecture that the V&A is easily the best
napping museum in the world

Ever-popular Cain bonking Abel

Celtic cross

Jesus, man-spreading, man-'splaining

Much of the work very finely done; quite a few of the
casts are all that remains of monuments destroyed in Europe's
assorted wars, revolutions, etc.

Moving right along, we are now in the architecture section...looking
at a model of the Houses of Parliament

Model of the great starfort Fort William, Bengal, 1794;  if you want 
to see architectural models (of a certain vintage) go to Sir John Soane's
Museum, High Holborn, for a truly incredible collection of a truly
incredible architect and architectural historian...

Now we are in the humongous glass department, which would take
a day to look at leisurely; admiring a Chihuly piece 

Very early glass blowing

Medieval Muslim always impressive

You expected a wood table?!

So much incredible stuff...overwhelms you in minutes

Now into Medieval Christendom, a 1300 world map

Among the misericords; possibly from New Zealand?

You never have to look far for a resting place

Today's aquamanile; we're going to scour all the charity
shops now for an art nouveau aquamanile

Central court of the old museum...on a warm August day in 2013, it
was difficult to keep toddler Penelope (or any other kid) out of the pool!

Having a snack at one of the South Kensington museum's 3 original
"refreshment rooms"...the first museum to offer such amenities...designed
by some of the greatest of the day, not least Morris...

We always go for the "humble working class" menu (since
the "de-classed intellectual" menu is no longer available);
solidarity, you know...