London Museum Updates 15 Galleries

The venerable Victoria and Albert Museum in London last week opened 15 renovated galleries showcasing four centuries of British design. Costing more than $44 million, the five-year renovation was the museum’s biggest project in more than half a century.

British Galleries 1500-1900 encompasses more than 3,000 objects ranging from the 16th century Bed of Ware (referred to in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”) to furniture by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928). Textiles, furniture, paintings and costumes are displayed together, in chronological order. There are now interactive audio programs with comments from artists and historians, plus videos showing how the objects were made and used. 011-44-870-442-0808, https://www.vam.ac.uk.