The Alexander McQueen exhibition at the V&A Alex LentatiThe V&A Museum has taken home the 2016 Museum of the Year Prize, awarded by Art Fund every year to an outstanding museum.
V&A director Martin Roth, who said he was "totally overwhelmed" at receiving the prize, and pledged to use the prize money to set up a department to collaborate with other museums across the UK.
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge announced the V&A as the winner of the £100,000 prize at a ceremony at the Natural History Museum, where it saw off competition from four other finalists. Art Fund director Stephen Deuchar described the V&A as “unforgettable”.
Arnolfini in Bristol, Juniper Artland in West Lothian, York Art Gallery and Bethlem Museum of the Mind were all shortlisted for the award.
The past year has been a period of remarkable transformation for the V&A. Their Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition broke records to become their most visited attraction, with almost half a million visitors from 87 countries.
Across their sites they had 3.9 million visitors, the highest in the museum’s 164-year history.
A fundraising appeal was also successful in reuniting the four angels originally created for the tomb of Cardinal Wolsey.
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The prize, awarded by Art Fund, is the largest arts award in Britain, and the biggest museum prize in the world. It was judged this year by Deuchar, artist Cornelia Parker, art historian Gus Casely-Hayford, BBC arts editor Will Gompertz, and visual culture professor Ludmilla Jordanova.
It has previously been awarded to the British Museum and the William Morris Gallery, and last year was won by the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester.
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