Visiting London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the Hampton Court Palace

Last modified 09.03.2022 | Published 28.05.20122010's, North and Central Europe, Travelogue, United Kingdom

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The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and the Hampton Court Palace were our last visits on this weekend trip to London.

This article is one of three from a visit to London in 2012. The story is a transcript from my diary.

 

Victoria and Albert Museum

As this was another beautiful day in London what was better than making it a day out to the fascinating palace in Richmond, south of London. As the palace was in the direction of Gatwick Airport we spent the first hours of the day at the V&A.

V&A is more than a museum; it is an institution boasting the world’s largest collection of decorative arts and design, with a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. Certainly not all objects are exhibited at once, but a large number are.

Apart from that I walked through one of this year’s special exhibitions, “British Design 1948–2012: Innovation in the Modern Age”. It was very interesting, especially the parts dealing with the various periods of modern music culture.

Hampton Court Palace

The train to Richmond took half an hour followed by a short walk across the River Thames to the entrance of the Hampton Court Palace. The palace was for 250 years or so the official residence of the British monarchs, starting with Henry VIII (the one with all the wives) from 1529 and ending in the latter half of the 18th century.

The buildings are kind of divided into two parts, the old ones dating back to Henry VIII and the connected ones largely built by King William III and very inspired by Versailles. The gardens and park outside also draw heavily on inspiration from the French Sun King. Amazing.

And so was the Maze.

 

Have a look at this video.

 

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This post is the last of three parts. It starts here.