Victoria and Albert Museum: what to see, photos and map

The Victoria and Albert Museum is one of those places where you enter for one object and end up crossing periods and continents. My memory is of an almost inexhaustible building: rather than trying to complete it, choose a thread to follow.

The collections explore how people designed, made, wore and lived with objects. Fashion, ceramics, jewellery, textiles, glass, furniture and photography make the V&A very different from a conventional picture gallery.

The monumental Cast Courts bring casts of European masterpieces together in a spectacular setting. The British Galleries instead follow connections between design, society and manufacture: two very different routes that give the visit useful structure.

The museum's scale rewards selection. Check which galleries are open, choose two or three themes and leave room for surprise; racing to see everything flattens the very variety that makes the V&A distinctive.

Photographs of the Victoria and Albert Museum

Where to find Victoria and Albert Museum

• Tower Bridge
• Buckingham Palace
• British Museum
• Science Museum
• Tate Modern
• Piccadilly Circus
• London parks