Biography
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) was founded following the Great Exhibition of 1851 as the Museum of Manufactures, which opened in May 1852 at Marlborough House, before being moved to Somerset House in September. In 1854 it was renamed The South Kensington Museum. The museum moved to Brompton Park House and was opened by Queen Victoria on 22 June 1857. Between the 1860s and 1880s the scientific collections were moved to other buildings on Exhibition Road, leaving the V&A as an institution of decorative arts, with the Science Museum becoming a separate institution on the appointment of its first director in 1893.
On 17 May 1899, the foundation stone for a new building, the Aston Webb Building, was laid by Queen Victoria. During this ceremony it was announced that the name of the museum would be changed to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The new building was officially opened on 26 June 1909 by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
Brief biography
museum (1899 - )
