Rick Steves' Europe
Travel Bites 938: London’s Victoria and Albert Museum
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“Albertopolis” is the corner of London built by and celebrating the vision of Prince Albert.
“Albertopolis” is the corner of London built by and celebrating the vision of Prince Albert—the only one who called Queen Victoria “Vickie.” With Victorian exuberance and confidence, it’s crowned by the great Victoria and Albert Museum.
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Rick Steves' Europe
Travel Bites 938: London’s Victoria and Albert Museum
Clip | 4m 34sVideo has Closed Captions
“Albertopolis” is the corner of London built by and celebrating the vision of Prince Albert—the only one who called Queen Victoria “Vickie.” With Victorian exuberance and confidence, it’s crowned by the great Victoria and Albert Museum.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship[music playing] Much of the London we enjoy today was shaped during Britain's glorious Victorian age.
This was the age of Queen Victoria, who ruled for 64 years, until 1901.
The Victorian age was an exuberant time.
The neo-gothic Albert Memorial reminds London how Victoria's beloved husband Albert, the only one who called her Vickie, did so much to promote technology and culture during that industrial boom time.
The statues at the base herald the great accomplishments of Britain's 19th century glory days.
Albert died in 1861.
His wife, Queen Victoria, was possibly the world's most determined mourner.
She wore black for the standard two years, and then tacked on 38 more for good measure.
Taking mourning to new heights, she required that the city's once colorful finials be painted black, as they remain to this day.
The Queen built grand monuments to her Albert, like the Royal Albert Hall, still a thriving venue for concerts, from classical to pop, and this neighborhood, nicknamed Albertopolis, remains a collection of grand cultural centers and museums.
The Natural History Museum, complete with a dinosaur's welcome in its Evolution Garden, was purpose built in the 1870s to showcase a vast collection of wonders from the natural world.
Charles Darwin holds court, as the bones of a massive whale named Hope, who washed ashore in Ireland a century ago, greet visitors.
The museum is a hit for families and students, especially with its animatronic T. rex.
[dinosaur roars] Next door, the immense Victoria and Albert Museum is named for the royal couple who did so much to support the many triumphs of their day.
Like so many of London's top attractions, it's free.
The V&A grew out of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
This first World's Fair, housed in a temporary glass and steel people's palace, celebrated the Industrial Revolution and the greatness of Britain.
The theme of the museum's Britain Galleries is style, taste, and design from 1500 through 1900.
400 years of English fashion history are corseted into a series of exquisite display cases.
This painting, from around 1600, is of a woman wearing this actual garment.
It was typical formal daywear, linen and silk embroidered with silver thread.
Nightcaps were fashionable among aristocratic men.
This tortoiseshell and silver toiletries kit shows that, in 1640, careful grooming was as important as dressing magnificently.
In the 1670s, shoes were called straights, and there was no difference between right and left.
Whalebone and lacing kept torsos flat and long.
Fans were a tool for flirting.
It was said while a man's weapon was a sword, a woman's weapon was a fan, and the fan did more damage.
In the 1740s, a rich woman's court dress was an extravagant display of wealth, even if it meant she entered rooms sideways.
And the huge collection illustrates the far reach of the British Empire, from its exquisite Indian art to its sumptuous hall of Chinese artifacts.
The Hall of Casts is filled with plaster copies of Europe's greatest statuary, ideal for London's 19th century art students who couldn't afford to travel.
They could compare the Renaissance genius of Donatello, whose David was Europe's first male nude since Roman times, and that of Michelangelo a century later, with his more heroic David.
And around the back, you'll find that this David came with an accessory.
As this was the famously prudish Victorian age, when aristocratic ladies would come to visit, they'd hang this fig leaf on the statue for modesty.
For more information, visit RickSteves.com.
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NewTravel Bites 967: St. Peter’s and Vatican City
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NewTravel Bites 965: Art in Rome’s Churches
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NewTravel Bites 964: Rome’s Back Street Riches and Piazzas
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NewTravel Bites 962: Catacombs and Early Christianity
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NewTravel Bites 960: Imperial Rome in Art
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NewTravel Bites 958: Eating Like a Roman
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NewTravel Bites 957: Capitoline Hill’s Ancient Treasures
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Clip | 3m | Rome’s historic Capitoline Hill brings ancient Rome vividly to life. (3m)
NewTravel Bites 956: Its Birth Story
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Clip | 4m 4s | Tracing the story of Rome in a nutshell. (4m 4s)
NewTravel Bites 955: Paris: A floodlit tour
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NewTravel Bites 954: Paris’ Other Great Museums
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NewTravel Bites 953: Versailles, Europe’s Palace of Palaces
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Clip | 3m 40s | This ultimate royal palace is Louis XIV’s lavish explosion of baroque bling. (3m 40s)
NewTravel Bites 952: The Orsay Gallery
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NewTravel Bites 951: Paris's Louvre Museum
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NewTravel Bites 950: Paris: Boulevards, Les Invalides, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysees
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NewTravel Bites 948: Eating French Cliches at a Parisian Bistro
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Clip | 4m 6s | The Marais is a hub of Parisian history and culture—with its Jewish Quarter, and Bastille prison,. (4m 6s)
NewTravel Bites 946: Shopping for Dinner on Paris’ Rue Cler
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Clip | 4m 6s | Paris’ most inviting market street is Rue Cler. (4m 6s)
NewTravel Bites 945: Two Grand Parisian Churches: Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle
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Clip | 2m 28s | Paris’ two most popular churches are the beloved Notre-Dame and the exquisite Sainte-Chapelle. (2m 28s)
NewTravel Bites 944: The Eiffel Tower
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Clip | 2m 15s | Paris’ Eiffel Tower, a muscular symbol of France’s Industrial Age, has been entertaining since 1889. (2m 15s)
NewTravel Bites 943: Paris’ River Seine
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Clip | 4m 35s | The Seine River defines Paris’ Right and Left Bank. (4m 35s)
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Clip | 2m | London hosts the national archive with 12 million books and one Treasures Room. (2m)
NewTravel Bites 940: A Proper Afternoon Tea
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Clip | 2m 6s | Afternoon tea is a great British tradition and London does it with style. (2m 6s)
NewTravel Bites 939: London’s East End Food Tour
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Clip | 4m 40s | London’s happening East End survives and thrives just beyond a tsunami of skyscrapers. (4m 40s)
Now PlayingTravel Bites 938: London’s Victoria and Albert Museum
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Clip | 4m 34s | “Albertopolis” is the corner of London built by and celebrating the vision of Prince Albert. (4m 34s)
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Clip | 2m 37s | St. Paul’s Cathedral is architect Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece, the greatest dome in Britain. (2m 37s)
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Clip | 3m 34s | London’s historic core is called “The City.” (3m 34s)
NewTravel Bites 934: Britain’s National Portrait Gallery
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Clip | 2m 35s | The National Portrait Gallery is the perfect place. (2m 35s)
NewTravel Bites 933: London’s Westminster and Whitehall, Home of Britain’s Government
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Clip | 8m 40s | The core of royal London. (8m 40s)
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