Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The topic's contents are all over the map: meticulous sketches of the human head,
diagrams illustrating nature's geometrical perfection, a horse's leg for a huge equestrian
statue, and even drawings of the latest ballroom fashions. The adjacent computer lets you
flip his backwards handwriting to make the secret code legible.
In Room 64a (off to the left), an exhibit shows works by the sculptor Donatello, who
blazed the artistic path followed by his fellow Florentine, Michelangelo. This all leads (in
Room 63, at the opposite end of Room 64) to works showing the new wealth of Europe as
it enters the modern age.
• Get out your V&A map to help you find our next destination, in Rooms 46a and 46b. To
get there, go back down the stairs one flight to the ground floor (level 1). Cross the big
sculpture hall and find Rooms 46a and 46b, labeled
The Cast Courts—
filled with replicas
of famous statues.
These two rooms are taking turns being renovated. Room 46b ( , below) will likely
reopen sometime in 2015; after that, Room 46a ( , below) will close. Because these
plaster casts are gigantic and hard to move, they're being rehabbed right here where they
stand. If you'd like to see the conservation work in action, go up the stairs at the Cast
Courts entryway to a gallery overlooking both rooms.
