London’s Victoria & Albert Museum recently announced the final phase of its Photography Center opens May 25, 2023. The new center will become the largest space in the United Kingdom for a permanent photography collection. Comprised of seven galleries, the center showcases the museum’s leading works, taking visitors on a journey through different time periods and destinations.

Since the founding of the museum in the 1850s, the Victoria and Albert Museum has collected and displayed photography. The museum continues its longstanding tradition and standard of excellence with this new center.

“Photography lies at the heart of the V&A. The museum has collected photography since 1852 and continues to acquire the best of contemporary practice,” said Marta Weiss, senior curator of photography and lead curator of phase two of Photography Center, Victoria and Albert Museum. “As photography plays an ever-increasing role in all our lives, the expanded Photography Centre will be more relevant than ever. We look forward to welcoming visitors to explore the medium’s diverse histories and enjoy our world-leading collection.”

Four of the seven galleries will be brand new, with two of these new galleries displaying global contemporary photography and unique commissions in rotating displays. The new rooms, which join three existing galleries, also include a space dedicated to the history and use of the camera.

Room 95, titled Inside the Camera, explores how cameras work and how they were used, beginning in the Victorian era and continuing to the first iPhone. Features include a walk-in camera obscura, showing visitors the optical phenomenon. Traveling to Room 96 and 97, these two new galleries will showcase recent acquisitions of global contemporary photography, as well as special commissions. Works by Sammy Baloji, Vera Lutter and Vasantha Yohananthan will grace the space on its opening. Leading Indian photographer Gauri Gill’s commission also appears in this space, depicting temporary architecture done by farmers from repurposed material on the outskirts of Delhi.

The fourth new gallery will serve as a flexible space dedicated to Photography and the Book. Guests can learn about how books acted as a crucial way of presenting photography since the mid-1800s. This gallery will house the extensive Royal Photographic Society Library, which includes journals, books, manuals and more from around the world, all published across nearly 200 years.