Cast Courts at the V&A

The Cast Courts at the V&A opened in 1873, allowing people who hadn’t the means to travel to see such wonders as Trajan’s Column, Michelangelo’s David, Florence Cathedral's Gates of Paradise, the Giovanni Pisano pulpit from Pisa Cathedral, and much more. The galleries were purpose-built to display the museum’s existing collection and constructed to a height of 25 metres to accommodate the casts of Trajan's Column, which had been acquired in 1864.

Renovation of the Cast Courts began in 2014 and is still going on to restore the original decorative scheme and colors of the galleries.

Plaster casts were made in sections (often hundreds of separate pieces) from the original structures and sculptures then assembled and finished to create complete and faithful reproduction of the original work. Sometimes the casts show details that can no longer be seen on the original as a result of poor restoration or weathering. In a few cases, the original has been destroyed and the cast is a unique record of a lost work.

In all cases, the pieces look not like plaster, but like whatever the material of the original was: stone, marble, bronze. It's hard to believe, looking at the photographs, and even harder when you the pieces in reality. Trajan's column, unfortunately, was impossible to photograph.Read more