Every now and then, I get an overwhelming urge to escape from my life. Not permanently of course. Just for an hour or so. Perhaps it's all the current chatter about the economic doom and gloom but I felt it particularly acutely yesterday. So, I switched off my Blackberry and ducked out. When this urge hits me, my preferred 'hideout' is usually one of London's various world class museums. This time, I chose the Victoria & Albert. I had not yet gotten around to visiting the V&A's new jewelry gallery which opened last May and yesterday seemed like the perfect day to do so. I could not have chosen a more perfect escape.
One of the things I've always admired about the V&A is their ability to embrace modernity and incorporate it into their collections. The new space, the work of London-based Czech architect Eva Jiricna, does not disappoint in this respect. The gallery - now known as the "William and Judith Bollinger Gallery" - has been transformed into a thoroughly modern duplex space complete with a helix-shaped perspex and lucite staircase lit from underneath with a bright blue light. The gallery also offers visitors multimedia presentations as well as the opportunity to consult the collection archives via computer terminals available throughout. The V&A's collection includes a reported 3,500 jewels spanning more than 3,000 years of history with a particular focus on European jewelry - enough to lose yourself for hours on end.
Sincerely,
The Luxe Chronicles
Photo by Edina van der Wyck, courtesy of the International Herald Tribune.
Hi,
Very nice Jewelry Gallery.Its looking absolutely fantastic and amazing..
Posted by: online pawn shops | Monday, February 09, 2009 at 10:54