Free entry
Seven days a week
Worth a trip
What it is
Museum tags: Art; Ceramics and craft; Design; Ethnographic and world cultures; Fashion and textiles; Religion and faith; Social history
The storehouse for the some of the V&A’s vast collection not on display in the main museum, allowing you to get a behind-the-scenes look. Across three levels are public walkways to see the museum store at work and some of its collection. There are also mini displays showcasing the collection, and free group sessions highlighting objects from the collection. You can also order an object from the collection to look at. The storehouse is also home to the David Bowie Centre.
. The concept is simple but brilliant: rather than keeping the vast majority of the V&A’s collection locked away in storage (as most museums do), the Storehouse puts it on show. Thousands of objects are displayed across four levels of open shelving, and you can use QR codes to find out more about any item you see.
Because items are stored by weight, size and fragility rather than by period or theme, you get some wonderfully unexpected neighbours. A 17th century Japanese doll might sit a shelf away from a mid-century television set.
Anyone can also order any object from the collection for a closer look. It’s a totally novel way of experiencing a museum’s collection, and a chance to see conservation close up.
The building has six large-scale objects built into its structure, and several are worth visiting for alone. The Torrijos ceiling is a stunning 15th century gilded wooden ceiling from a lost palace near Toledo in Spain, reassembled from 150 pieces after decades in storage. The Agra Colonnade, a colossal Mughal marble structure from the bathhouse at Agra’s Red Fort, sits at ground level and can be seen through a glass floor as you walk above it. A two-storey concrete section of the Robin Hood Gardens estate, the brutalist housing block demolished between 2017 and 2025, looms over the central staircase. There is also the Kaufmann Office, the only complete Frank Lloyd Wright interior outside the US. It’s awesome.
When I visited, it was clear most visitors were heading for the David Bowie Centre, which houses over 90,000 items from the Bowie archive. There is almost always a queue. But it is worth it – especially if you’re a bowie fan! Handwritten lyrics, memorabilia, instruments and outfits, and an excellent section on his farreaching influence on pop culture.
One practical note: bags and coats are not allowed in the main hall, so you will need to use the free lockers in the welcome space. Entry to the Storehouse is free and no booking is required.
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