In 1843, Henry Cole, the V&A’s founding director, sent the world’s first Christmas card. The Museum holds in its collections a large number of Christmas-related items, including cards, toys, books, church carvings, stained glass and decorations. The Museum also regularly commissions Christmas trees from well-known designers.
What the Victorians Read at Christmas
The commercialisation of Christmas, which many today consider a bane of modern life, in fact has its origins in the 1840s. Henry Cole sent the first Christmas card (now in …
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Annunciation to the Shepherds
The design for this roundel is very similar to that of a manuscript, dated about 1325 to 1335 that is now in The Hague, in the Netherlands. The manuscript is by an unknown …
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'The Adoration of the Magi' Panel by Augustin Henckel, 1500-20
This carved, painted and gilded limewood panel shows the scene at Bethlehem when the three gift-bearing kings (magi) arrived to see the infant Jesus Christ. You can listen …
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The First Miracle of St. Nicholas
This stained glass panel is from a series depicting scenes from the life of St Nicholas. The donor was Nicolaas Ruterius, Bishop of Arras 1501-9, who was previously a pries…
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Study Room Resource: Christmas
This section describes how pupils can use the Christmas card collection to separate the strands of these traditions. The activity suggested in the Teachers' notes is partly…
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A gift in your will
You may not have thought of including a gift to a museum in your will, but the V&A is a charity and legacies form an important source of funding for our work. It is not just the great collectors and the wealthy who leave legacies to the V&A. Legacies of all sizes, large and small, make a real difference to what we can do and your support can help ensure that future generations enjoy the V&A as much as you have.
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Family Christmas Pack of 10 Christmas Cards (Square)||RF10F
Pack of 10 same design cards with plain white envelopes. Message reads: 'With all good wishes for Christmas and the New Year''.Detail from a …
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