The Torrijos Ceiling: Preserving a 15th-Century Masterpiece for Future Generations
The V&A East project will create two interconnected sites in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London: a new museum at Stratford Waterfront and a collection and research centre at Here East.
This ambitious project will transform the museum experience by offering visitors behind-the-scenes access to the collection process, conservation, research, and displays. The purpose-built centre will house 250,000 objects and 917 archives, providing a unique opportunity to showcase large-scale items from the V&A collection, including architectural fragments and period rooms that have never been publicly displayed.
One notable object is the Torrijos Ceiling, a large Hispano-Moresque ceiling from the Palacio de Torrijos, dating to around 1490. Previously on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the ceiling was dismantled in 1992 and stored off-site. In the interest of preserving its historic fabric, the ceiling was palletised and soft-wrapped without a full condition survey.
The conservation project was divided into two phases. Phase 1, the assessment, took place at the Arte Conservation studios in Kent from June to August 2020. Phase 2, which involved cleaning and conservation work, was carried out between 5 October 2020 and 18 October 2021, ensuring the ceiling’s preservation and future display at the new V&A East sites.
For more information on the project, read the V&A’s blog here