The New Science Museum

Abstract

THE Science Museum, which is the national museum of science and industry in Great Britain, dates from 1856, when the various collections which had been acquired by the Royal Commission of the Exhibition of 1851 for the purpose of illustrating the application of science and art to industry were brought together and arranged for exhibition at South Kensington. The exhibition so formed was housed in temporary buildings and was known as the South Kensington Museum, FIG. 1.—New buildings of the Science Museum, Sou which title it retained for more than half a century. In 1909, that part of the collections pertaining to art was transferred to the newly constructed Victoria and Albert Museum, and the science collections which remained were brought under a separate administration. The Science Museum from that time ceased to be a purely departmental institution and became a national one; its new aspect was emphasised by a Departmental Committee, which reported in 1911 and 1912 on its scope and aims, recommending the erection of new buildings to provide a very considerable addition to the area of the exhibition galleries. The erection of thefirst block of the new buildings was begun in 1912, but, owing to the War, its completion was indefinitely postponed and the development of the collections was retarded. This portion, the Eastern Block, has, however, now been completed and was opened by His Majesty the King on Mar. 20.