The New British Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum

Q. What's going on at the V & A

A. After a major makeover of its decorative arts galleries The V & A has just opened 15 extra rooms to the public. The British Galleries, as they are known, constitute the largest project mounted at the V & A since the Second World War II.

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Q. When did they open

A. The official opening was on 20 November 2001, with Prince Charles as guest of honour. The galleries opened to the public on 22 November.

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Q. How much does it cost to get in

A. It's free. The V&A has scrapped all admission fees.

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Q. How much did the refurbishment cost

A. �31-million.

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Q. What's in the British Galleries

A. The 3,000 square ft of gallery space contains the museum's complete collection of about 3,000 exquisite objects made in Britain between 1500 and 1900. The collection spans the period from the reign of Henry VIII, when the British Isles were pretty marginal to the rest of Europe in the arts as much as in politics, to the end of Queen Victoria's reign, when Britain was known as the 'workshop of the world'.

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The items on show range from a Dickens's pen and the manuscript of Oliver Twist to Henry VIII's writing desk, James II's wedding suit and the nation's oldest and most famous bed, the Great Bed of Ware - which dates from 1590 and is 11 ft long by 10 ft wide - as well as the work of top British designers and leading manufacturers, such as Thomas Chippendale, William Morris, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Josiah Wedgwood and Liberty's.

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Q. But there's been some controversy over one of the exhibits, hasn't there

A. Breathless, a new sculpture by 1998 Turner Prize nominee Cornelia Parker, was commissioned to hang in the new space - the only contemporary piece in the galleries. The hanging orchestra of trumpets, horns and other brass instruments that once belonged to colliery and British Legion bands, were crushed flat and suspended. It has been called 'an act of vandalism' by the Churchill Society and other complaints have been raised to the effect that the money the V & A paid to the artist could have been better spent buying new instruments to keep brass band culture alive rather than in destroying old ones.

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Q. And a little bit about the history of the V & A

A. Originally opened in 1852 as the Museum of Manufacturers at Marlborough House, the collection was founded on contemporary objects of applied art bought, at the instigation of the Prince Albert, from the Great Exhibition of 1851 combined with collections from the Government School of Design. It was soon expanded to include objects of all styles and periods, and the name was changed to Museum of Ornamental Art. In 1857 it was moved to its present site in South Kensington to become part of the South Kensington Museum.

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The present building - part of the so-called Albertopolis - was designed by Sir Aston Webb and was begun in 1899, at which time the museum was given its present name by Queen Victoria. The Victoria and Albert Museum as we know it today opened in 1909, and it includes the Royal College of Art, an extensive art library and the collections of the India Museum.

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Q. Albertopolis

A. Following the success of the Great Exhibition of 1851, Prince Albert proposed that land should be bought to continue the Exhibition's aims and to extend 'the influence of Science and Art upon Productive Industry' by building museums, colleges, schools, concert halls and premises for learned societies. So, in 1852, 80 acres of land were bought by the Commissioners for the Great Exhibition.

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The institutions within Albertopolis include the V & A, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Royal College of Art, the Royal College of Music, Imperial College, the Royal Albert Hall and, just over the road from the latter, the newly restored Albert memorial.

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The term Albertopolis first appeared in the 1850s, but it has had to vie with Coleville - after Sir Henry Cole, who implemented much of Albert's plan and who became the first director of the V & A - so it's gone in and out of fashion.

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Have a look at the V & A site

For more on Breathless

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See also the articles on the British Museum, museum admission charges,�listed buildings and St Pancras

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For more on Arts & Literature click here

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By Simon Smith