Cultural CapitalMuseums are a classic form of what Pierre Bourdieu called objectified cultural capital: cultural goods that can be collected, displayed and shared. The story of the Victoria and Albert Museum shows how one event helped create a lasting public institution. This short history draws on the V&A's own account, "100 Facts about the V&A". It is educational and research content only, and nothing here is financial advice or a financial promotion.
The Great Exhibition
The V&A says its South Kensington area, nicknamed "Albertopolis" after Prince Albert, was bought partly from the profits of the Great Exhibition of 1851, and that the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 still owns the site. The link between an exhibition and a permanent collection is where the story begins.
A first home at Marlborough House
The museum opened in 1852 as the Museum of Manufactures at Marlborough House, a royal residence in Pall Mall. A year later it became the Museum of Ornamental Art.
The move to South Kensington
In 1857 the collection moved to its current site and became known as the South Kensington Museum. Its first Director, Henry Cole, described the museum that year as "a refuge for destitute collections".
Opening up the museum
The V&A says the South Kensington Museum was the first museum in the world to provide a public restaurant, with menus that varied by class. It was also the first to use gas lighting in its galleries, which allowed evening opening. Cole hoped evening opening would be "a powerful antidote to the gin palace". In the 19th century admission was free three days a week and cost sixpence on the other three.
A new name and new buildings
In 1899 the museum was renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of new buildings along Exhibition Road and Cromwell Road.
Timeline
- 1851: the Great Exhibition, whose profits helped buy the site.
- 1852: Museum of Manufactures opens at Marlborough House.
- 1857: move to South Kensington.
- 1899: renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Why it matters for cultural capital
Public museums widen access to objects and ideas once seen only by a few. Evening hours and a cheap or free ticket were practical ways of doing it, and the V&A's own history shows that access was designed in from the start.