ROYALTY
Much like today's Royal Family, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's public life was documented and photographed. Their wedding, in 1840, was the first modern popular Royal event. The exhibition explores the role of the Royal Family as leaders of taste and social change which is demonstrated by many works of art on loan from the Royal Collection. Highlights in this section include a sculpture of Lady Godiva given by Queen Victoria to Prince Albert as a present, a Royal Telegraph machine and Landseer's grand painting of 'Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the Bal Costumé'.

SOCIETY
British Society was in a constant state of flux during the nineteenth century. Through a display of paintings by Frith, Alma Tadema and Sickert and many other major artists, visitors are able to experience the Victorian enthusiasm for sport and theatre and come to terms with the contradictory attitudes to work, children, sex and death inherent in this rapidly developing society marked by the emergence of middle class attitudes.

NATURE
As the Victorians encountered new cultures and landscapes, so their relationship with Nature was challenged. Their changing attitudes to animals and evolution, the effects of their new discoveries on art, design and gardening and the impact of Darwin are traced in the third section. An Antler Chair, fossils, a sheep's head snuff box and a stuffed tiger are amongst the curiosities on display.

THE WORLD AND ARMY
The impact of Victorian expansion on the rest of the world, through military power, trade and empire, is reflected both through displays of ethnography and local products, to illustrate the Victorian fascination with the wider world. This section includes a spectacular display of gems and jewellery, a Japanese Samurai armour suit given to Queen Victoria, Crowfoot's shirt and a spear rest in the form of a four-armed monster from Hawaii.

TECHNOLOGY
New technology was the driving force behind the development of industry, transport systems and imperial expansion. Using Victorian models and works of art, this section shows the extraordinary possibilities which were opened up by the railways, steamships, telegraph and electricity, and the way the Victorians invented our modern world. A model of a submarine, heated curling tongs, a photograph of one of the first x-rays, and a car from 1900 are just some of the objects on display. Visitors will also have the opportunity to hear recordings of eminent Victorians such as Florence Nightingale, and the bugle call that launched 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'. Vintage film footage of events such as Queen Victoria's Jubilee, a football match and the Boer War close this final section of the exhibition.

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