Young V&A named UK Museum of the Year 2024

Just one year after its reopening in July 2023, the former London Childhood Museum, renamed Young V&A, has won the UK Museum of the Year Award 2024. The awards ceremony took place at the National Gallery in London on 10 July and the prize is worth €143,000.

The Museum of the Year Award honours every museum in Britain for its achievements and its capacity for innovation and outreach to the public. The Young V&A won the competition, notably against the National Portrait Gallery (London), which reopened in 2022 after a major renovation.

The Young V&A is located in the residential area of ​​Bathnal Green (East London). Before the work began 3 years ago, the red brick facade of the Victorian building (1872) had a rather austere appearance for a museum dedicated to children. Today topped with a giant and colourful V&A logo, the building displays the new objective: “to create the happiest museum in the world” explains the co-author of the architectural project Matos Ryan. Completely reorganized for a budget of 15 million euros, the 5,200 m2 museum has swapped its rooms of dolls and dusty toys standing at attention behind glass cases for a colorful, playful museographic space adapted to the main interested parties: children (0-14 years old).

The architecture, resulting from extensive consultation, is far removed from the original museum: “more light, more color, more matter, more sound!” exclaims Gill Lambert of AOC. “Play,” “Imagine,” and “Design,” the names of the three new exhibition galleries, are written in giant, bright yellow letters above the entrance hall. Neon signage illuminates the entire museography.

The Museum of the Year Prize has been in existence for 11 years (2013), it was previously sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation under the name “Gulbenkian Museum Prize 2003-2007” and then by the association “Art Fund Prize” since 2008. The mission of Art Fund created in 1903 is to provide assistance in financing the collections of museums and galleries. The Museum of the Year Prize is funded by the proceeds of the National Art Pass (a pass intended for the 135,000 members of the association which offers discounts on 900 museums and galleries) and by private donors.

The Young V&A has enjoyed significant success since its reopening. 590,000 visitors have flocked to the museum’s doors in the last 9 months, an increase of 223% on the 2019-2020 admission figures.

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