The museum fronts onto Exhibition Road, between Kensington Gore and Cromwell Road, north of the Natural History Museum. The Science Museum had its origins in the scientific and educational collections of the South Kensington Museum, opened in 1857, itself an outcome of the great exhibition of 1851. In 1864 the science collections were squeezed out by the expanding art collections, into buildings already in existence on the Science Museum's present site. The whole was re-named the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1899 and then, in 1909, the science division was administratively separated from the arts division, for which the V&A name was retained. The present Science Museum buildings were started in 1913 and proceeded in stages, continued recently with the latest which is the new Wellcome Wing. The museum exists to promote the public understanding of historical and contemporary practices in science, technology and industry. There are interactive galleries of interest to both adults and children alike.

O/S Co-ords:2684.7921
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