Intercultural programme

The intercultural programme arranges public free  lunch time gallery talks once a month as well as tailor made intercultural and sacred objects tours for faith and community groups.  We also arrange family festivals, special events for the public and community groups related to exhibitions and projects.

Intercultural tours

The V&A’s extensive collections are rich in objects associated with many of the world’s religions: from faith objects of the major religions of South and South-East Asia and galleries dedicated to art from the Islamic Middle East; to Judaeo-Christian cultural objects on show in the Sacred Silver & Stained Glass galleries and in the award-winning Medieval & Renaissance galleries.

We offer a range of Intercultural and Sacred Object tours delivered by specially trained guides. You can choose to focus on one particular faith or look at objects relating to different faiths and cultures.

World faiths

Explore one of the following world faiths in detail: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism and Sikhism.

Abrahamic faiths

Compare sacred objects relating to Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions and cultures.

Asian faiths

Explore the diverse range of paintings, scripts and manuscripts created within Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Sikh traditions. Select three of these faiths to focus on in detail.

Duration: 1 hour
Number of people: 1–20. Larger groups can be accommodated, but will need to be split into smaller groups. Multiple tours can run concurrently for larger groups.
Cost: £40 per tour for youth and community organisations, supplementary schools and charitable faith organisations.

How to book

Contact the booking office on +44 (0)20 7942211, or e-mail: bookings.office@vam.ac.uk to discuss which tour or talk you would like to arrange.

We recommend booking a minimum of 1 month in advance.

The Groups Team
The V&A has a small, friendly and experienced Groups Team dedicated to arranging private group visits. A member of the team meets and assists the group on the day to ensure everything goes smoothly so that organisers can also relax and enjoy the visit.

Days and times
Private tours and talks can take place during normal opening hours: 10.00-17.45 seven days a week.

We are open every day of the year except 24-26 December.

It is usually possible to give more than one tour concurrently if required. Gallery stools are available on arrival for visitors who find it difficult to stand for a length of time.

Familiarisation visits
Group organisers are welcome to make an appointment to come and meet a member of the Groups Team at the V&A, to discuss details of the visit and familiarise themselves with the venue.

Other intercultural projects

Intercultural events and projects range from organising family festival days such as for the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rabindranth Tagore and Chinese New Year, often working with partner organisations  such as the Institute of Jainology for a range of events for different audiences to go alongside the Jainpedia digitalisation project, and organising study days linking with objects in V&A exhibitions, for example a study day  looking at the Art of Burial from cross cultural persectives.

We also run themed community workshops and consultations from time to time such as the HLF funded project to enable members of  faith communities to comment on objects in the collections.

Buddhist community views on objects in the collection

Hindu community views on objects in the collection 

Islamic community views on objects in the collection 

Jain community views on objects in the collection 

Sikh community views on objects in the collection 

Christian community views on objects in the collection 

Jewish community views on objects in the collection 

We have a regular programme of cultural and intercultural events.  For more information about our future events visit What’s On and search “Special Events” and “Intercultural”.