'An insult to everything the Museum stands for' or 'Ariadne's thread' to 'Knowledge' and 'Inspiration'? Daniel Libeskind's Extension for the V & A and its Context. Part II.

The article discusses the history of Victoria & Albert Museum (V & A) in London England. In 1852, the V & A was founded by Henry Cole in the wake of the Great Exhibition. According to the author, the central purpose of the museum was to serve the Schools of Design at South Kensington and in the country to enhance and to evaluate the art collections. In 1857, the museum moved to a prefabricated building at Kensington, where it found itself impudence by jowl with a number of other collections. Moreover, it mentions that the museum houses the National Art Library (NAL) that possesses a number of special collections, which include the papers of Cole and the works of artist Charles Dickens.