The Cast Courts

The V&As Comprehensive Cast Collection

I want to introduce you to my favourite exhibition in the Victoria and Albert museum, the Cast Courts. The Cast Courts were first opened in 1873 and were designed to be the most comprehensive collection of European sculptures in the world. They in themselves are relics, as the techniques used to create them are no longer in use.

In this gallery, you will find cast versions of famous sculptures and building fronts from around Europe. What I mean by cast is that a mould was placed against the original so that copies could be made. The practice used to create them, as I’ve mentioned, did slightly damage the originals, and so the collection in the Cast Courts are unique all in themselves. Nowadays advanced 3D scanning and printing is used instead – less so nowadays to create replicas and more to document degradation, but still, the technology is there.

Regardless of their authenticity, though their age has certainly made them look real, the Cast Court is grand, and imposing, and there is nowhere else in London where you can walk amongst a steeple and a mausoleum and several statues taller than you placed closely together in two rooms. It’s a graveyard in its own right, and it will never fail to make you feel very small amidst their imposing grandeur.
Never can you get so close to so many different creatures, study the intricate details of a spire that, in real life, is too tall for you to see. The Cast Courts are there for you to see what you usually can’t. The detail the artists included that were sometimes never meant for close inspection is there for you to ponder.

If you haven’t already, make sure to include the Cast Courts on your next visit to the museums. They won’t disappoint!

Cassandra Kosmayer

TripTide User