Page "Victoria and Albert Museum" Paragraph 6

The V & A has its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, with which Henry Cole, the museum's first director, was involved in planning ; initially it was known as the Museum of Manufactures, first opening in May 1852 at Marlborough House, but by September had been transferred to Somerset House.

At this stage the collections covered both applied art and science.

Several of the exhibits from the Exhibition were purchased to form the nucleus of the collection.

By February 1854 discussions were underway to transfer the museum to the current site and it was renamed as the South Kensington Museum.

In 1855 the German architect Gottfried Semper, at the request of Cole, produced a design for the museum, but it was rejected by the Board of Trade as too expensive.

The site was occupied by Brompton Park House ; this was extended including the first refreshment rooms opened in 1857, the museum being the first in the world to provide such a facility.

The official opening by Queen Victoria was on 22 June 1857.

In the following year, late night openings were introduced, made possible by the use of gas lighting.

This was to enable in the words of Cole " to ascertain practically what hours are most convenient to the working classes " — this was linked to the use of the collections of both applied art and science as educational resources to help boost productive industry.

In these early years the practical use of the collection was very much emphasised as opposed to that of " High Art " at the National Gallery and scholarship at the British Museum.

George Wallis ( 1811 – 1891 ), the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection, passionately promoted the idea of wide art education through the museum collections.

This led to the transfer to the museum of the School of Design that had been founded in 1837 at Somerset House, after the transfer it was referred to as the Art School or Art Training School, later to become the Royal College of Art which finally achieved full independence in 1949.

From the 1860s to the 1880s the scientific collections had been moved from the main museum site to various improvised galleries to the west of Exhibition Road.

In 1893 the " Science Museum " had effectively come into existence when a separate director was appointed.