- V&A Museum of Childhood
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Coordinates: 51°31′44″N 0°03′18″W / 51.528889°N 0.055°W
V&A Museum of Childhood 
Location within United Kingdom Greater LondonLocation Bethnal Green, London Director Rhian Harris Public transit access Bethnal Green 
Website www.vam.ac.uk/moc The V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green in the East End of London is a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum (the "V&A"), which is the United Kingdom's national museum of applied arts.
Contents
History
The official opening of the Bethnal Green Museum by the Prince of Wales in 1872.
The museum was founded in 1872 as the Bethnal Green Museum. The iron structure reused a prefabricated building from Albertopolis which was replaced with some early sections of the modern V&A complex. The exterior of the building was designed by James William Wild in red brick in a Rundbogenstil (round-arched) style very similar to that in contemporary Germany.
The building was used to display a variety of collections at different times, including the works which can now be seen at the Wallace Collection. In the 1920s, it began to focus on services for children, and in 1974 the director of the V&A, Sir Roy Strong, defined it as a specialist museum of childhood.
Of all the branches, the Bethnal Green Museum has the largest collection of childhood objects in the United Kingdom.
The mission of the museum is "To enable everyone, especially the young, to explore and enjoy the designed world, in particular objects made for and made by children." It has extensive collections of toys, childhood equipment and costumes, and stages a programme of temporary exhibitions.
The museum closed in October 2005 for the second phase of extensive renovations, costing £4.7 million. It reopened on 9 December 2006 with changes including a new front entrance, gallery, displays and café.
Inside the museum is a cast iron statue by John Bell (1811–1896). It came originally from the Great Exhibition of 1851. "The Eagle slayer" shows a marksman shooting at an eagle which has slain the lamb that lies at his feet.[1]
The museum is a Grade II listed building.[2]
Transport connections
Service Station/Stop Stop Letter Lines/Routes served Distance from
V&A
Museum of ChildhoodLondon Buses 
Bethnal Green Staion 
Stop A 106, 254, 309, 388, D3, D6 Stop B 8, 309, D6 Stop D 8, 388, D3 Old Ford Road Stop G 106, 254, 388, D6 London Underground 
Bethnal Green 
National Rail 
Cambridge Heath National Express East Anglia 0.2 mile walk[3] Bethnal Green 0.5 mile walk[4] References
- ^ accessed 8 August 2009
- ^ Details from listed building database (205816) . Images of England. English Heritage. accessed 8 August 2009
- ^ http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=United+Kingdom+(Cambridge+Heath+(London)+Rail+Station)&daddr=V%26A+Museum+of+Childhood&geocode=FcxQEgMdSiD__yGN544aq6qNOw%3BFfBEEgMdiSb__yHdyIVwB94bVw&hl=en&mra=pd&dirflg=w&sll=51.526238,-0.055764&sspn=0.056604,0.169086&ie=UTF8&z=17 Walking directions to V&A Museum of Childhood from Cambridge Heath (London) railway station
- ^ http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=FVAxEgMdWBf__ymngETpzxx2SDFzEgwJEQadKQ%3BFfBEEgMdiSb__yHdyIVwB94bVw&q=Bethnal+Green+rail+station+to+V%26A+Museum+of+Childhood&aq=&sll=51.53048,-0.05631&sspn=0.003537,0.010568&dirflg=w&ie=UTF8&z=16&saddr=Bethnal+Green+rail+station&daddr=V%26A+Museum+of+Childhood Walking directions to V&A Museum of Childhood from Bethnal Green railway station
External links
Categories:- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Museums established in 1872
- Children's museums in the United Kingdom
- History of Tower Hamlets
- Toy museums in England
- Grade II listed buildings in London
- Museums in Tower Hamlets
- Doll museums
- United Kingdom museum stubs
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