There is a rather interesting opinion that every adult is a child at heart. If explained from a psychological point of view, any adult needs a break from the daily rat race and sometimes they switch to childish behavior. Each of us has already lived our own little unique life, which is called childhood, and knows exactly how fun, toys and delicious ice cream feels like. Thus, amazing locations have been created all over the world, which offer an opportunity to plunge into this carefree world and experience those good moments again. One of them is the V&A Museum of Childhood in London. Learn more at london-future.
Revealing the museum’s secrets
The museum was opened in the early 1850s and gained popularity from the very beginning. As the founders aimed to enrich ordinary workers with new knowledge and information, the museum was available to a wide range of visitors. An interesting fact is that it was originally called the Museum of Crafts and was renamed multiple times before becoming the Museum of Childhood. Only in 1922, the museum became the center of a magical and cheerful childhood world and presented the first related collection. Everything in the museum was made comfortable for its young visitors. Even exhibits and paintings were placed at a lower level than usual. In addition, special lectures and excursions for students took place there too. Then a special room for lessons was opened inside. Prominent personalities, who became interested in that popular and rapidly developing museum, handed over new unique toys, replenishing and diversifying the collection. However, nobody knew what obstacles the place would have to face.
All plans and great hopes were destroyed by the Second World War when the museum was turned into a public canteen. However, after a series of terrible events, the place was opened as a museum again. After the war, the museum’s collection was significantly reduced, as not all of them survived and were preserved in good condition. Then there were some more changes, expansion and reduction of the fund, but the museum underwent a global reconstruction in the new millennium. In 2003, the ceiling, some halls, the roof and the foyer were repaired and in 2006, the reconstruction of the museum was completed. A new modern educational center appeared there too. The place got its second wind and turned the page. Nowadays, the halls were made more spacious, technologically equipped and modernized.
The wonderful world of childhood
The museum is worth visiting for both tourists and residents of London. Here, exhibits are placed on two floors and divided into four galleries, which consist of certain departments. The museum fund includes 100,000 different objects, such as interesting toys and other childhood things, which represent different historical eras. The collection covers the period from the 16th century to the present day.
The unique museum fund presents the largest collection of dolls in Great Britain (4,000 items), the first constructors, children’s clothes of different times, optical toys, furniture, magical puppets, childcare items, educational materials and much more. The museum is one of the most interesting locations for children, as it allows them to touch exhibits and even participate in interesting experiments. In addition, children and their parents have the opportunity to visit the educational center, where design, art, history and technology classes are held.
