V&A Museum Bomb Damage - Exhibition Road, London, UK
N 51° 29.809 W 000° 10.422
30U E 696177 N 5708863
An inscription into stonework, to the right of the V&A entrance in Exhibition Road, explains why the screen wall is so pitted.
Waymark Code: WMN5BP
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/29/2014
Views: 5
The inscription, carved into stone, reads:
The damage to these walls is the
result of enemy bombing during the
blitz of the Second World War 1939 - 1945
and is left as a memorial to the enduring
values of this great museum in a time of conflict
The V&A's website has an article about the museum during the war from records kept by Sir Eric Maclagan and his staff. The following is a small extract that recalls of the bomb that caused the damage:
One of the worst bombs exploded outside the Exhibition Road entrance, where evidence of the shrapnel blast can still be seen. A report on the damage stated: 'The museum suffered considerable damage. Two powerful bombs hit in the vicinity on Exhibition Road. It has practically wrecked the west side of the museum. The surface of the masonry was badly knocked about and the Exhibition Road doors were blown in. Practically all windows, frames and iron grilles were destroyed and we have lost most of the glass roofing on that side of the museum.'
There was a great deal to clear up and the V&A closed for a few days. Maclagan's first worry though was 'the large mass of material still stored in the galleries and exposed to the wind and the weather'.