London museum opening medieval and Renaissance wing

Interior view Victoria & Albert Museum. Public domain image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

LONDON – A London museum is opening a new 30 million pound ($49 million) wing displaying the art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance and exploring the connections between the periods.

The wing opening tomorrow, Dec. 2, is the first permanent collection of medieval and renaissance art to be displayed at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The 1,800 objects tell the story of European art and design from the decline of the Roman Empire through the Renaissance.

Each of 10 ten galleries concentrates on a theme. In a gallery of religious artworks, for instance, light filters through translucent onyx window screens, suggesting the illumination in medieval churches.

One of the treasures of the collection is five notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci that contain his right-to-left “mirror writing.”

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

# # #