Exhibitions currently running:

My Generation: The Glory Years of British Rock - Top of the Pops was launched by the BBC on New Year's Day in 1964, and went on to become the longest-running TV show in British history. On that night the Rolling Stones were the opening band; the photographer was Harry Goodwin. This display brings together 200 of Harry Goodwin's most striking and memorable photographs, from a shocked Bob Dylan (temporarily blinded by Harry's flash in punishment for grumpiness) to a dramatic shot of Jimi Hendrix playing the guitar with his teeth. These images capture the mood and style of the 60s and 70s, and the impact of its musical stars. They celebrate those who are still actively part of the contemporary music scene and those who are remembered with veneration and affection. As the show's resident photographer from 1964 to 1973, Harry Goodwin's unique collection of photographs remembers them all. Until 30 August.

Grace Kelly: Stlye Icon - Tracing the evolution of her style from her days as one of Hollywoods most popular actresses in the 1950s and as Princess Grace of Monaco, the display presents over 50 of Grace Kelly's outfits together with hats, jewellery and the original Hermès Kelly bag. Dresses from her films, including High Society, are on show as well as the gown she wore to accept her Oscar award in 1955. These are accompanied by film clips and posters, photographs and her Oscar statuette. The display also includes the lace ensemble worn by Grace Kelly for her civil marriage ceremony to Prince Rainier in 1956 and 35 haute couture gowns from the 1960s and 70s by her favourite couturiers Dior, Balenciaga, Givenchy, and Yves St Laurent. Until 26 September.

David Watkins: Artist in Jewellery, a Retrospective View - Celebrate the career of David Watkins, leading British artist jeweller and sculptor in metal. This retrospective features 68 pieces of jewellery that show how his early jewellery as miniature sculptures developed to become large scale wearable objects that also exist independently as art objects. The use of different techniques, materials and styles displayed across these pieces shows his versatility as an artist jeweller and heralds Watkins as a contemporary force in international design. Until 26 September.

Fashion Fantasies: fashion plates and fashion satire, 1775-1925 - This display juxtaposes two genres of print that fantasise fashion on paper: fashion plates and graphic social satire. The fashion plate communicated changes in fashion but also encouraged viewers to engage with a luxurious fantasy. At the same time fashionable dress was subject to imaginative distortions in the hands of graphic satirists interested in exposing social foibles. From the oversize wigs of the 1770s to the short skirts and fur stoles of the 1920s, the display charts the dialogue between fashion plate and fashion satire. Until January 2011.

Elegant Accomplishments: The Art of Noh Performance - This small display from the V&A's collection of superb Nō robes and masks, together with prints illustrating performance, is shown in the Museum's gallery dedicated to the arts of Japan. It complements the tour of Nō performance and associated events being presented across the UK this autumn. The V&A has been collecting Nō masks - worn by performers of this form of Japanese musical drama - since 1876, a time when the fate of Nō hung in the balance. That same year saw the ban on wearing swords by the samurai - who had been the traditional patrons of Nō for centuries. Many Nō families were forced to sell off their family treasures and western museums were then fortunate enough to acquire many fine examples of these crafts. From 7 September 2009 until 16 January 2011.

Permanent exhibitions at V&A:

The William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery - Opens 24 May 2008. The new gallery, designed by Eva Jiricna, will transform the presentation of the V&As jewellery collection, one of the most celebrated and comprehensive in the world. Over 3500 jewels will tell the story of jewellery from 2000 BC to the present. On display will be jewels from the courts of Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great and Napoleon, including the famous Beauharnais Emeralds. Jewels by the great houses of Boucheron, Chaumet and Cartier, including Lady Mountbatten's tutti frutti bandeau will be on show. Artist jewellers from Lalique and C.R. Ashbee to Wendy Ramshaw and Peter Chang will reflect the 20th century and the present day.

European Silver - This event is marking the completion of the museum`s redisplay of its silver galleries, the largest public collection of silver in the UK. It contains more than 500 silver and gold objects from medieval times to the Napoleonic era.

British Galleries 1500 - 1900 - Re-opened galleries are arranged chronologically to trace the history of British design from the reign of Henry VIII to Queen Victoria.

Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art - After a three-year-long renovation and redesign, and with the generous financial help of the Jamel family, the V&A will open the new Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art this month. It will be an outstanding new home for over 400 objects, including ceramics, textiles, carpets, metalwork, glass and woodwork, dating from the great days of the Islamic caliphate of the 8th and 9th centuries to the years preceding the First World War. The area covered stretches from Spain in the west to Uzbekistan and Afghanistan in the east, taking in important centres of artistic production in the Arab lands, Turkey and Iran. The Gallery's highlight will be the Ardabil carpet, the world's oldest dated carpet, and one of the largest, most beautiful and historically important in the world. Other highlights include an exquisite rock crystal ewer from 11th century Egypt, an ivory casket made in 11th century Spain, and the sword of Shah Tahmasp.

Sculpture Galleries at the V&A The V&A's outstanding sculpture collection will be redisplayed this spring in the new Dorothy and Michael Hintze Galleries. Opening directly onto the new John Madejski garden, the light-filled galleries will display some of the Museum's finest sculpture dating from 1600 to 1900 made by British sculptors or acquired by British patrons. The galleries have been named in honour of Dorothy and Michael Hintze who gave a generous donation of £1.5 million through the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation. The galleries include a sequence of magnificent sculptures such as Bernini's fountain of Neptune, Canova's Theseus and the Minotaur, and works by Giambologna, Roubiliac, Delvaux and Rysbrack, all of which were once in the collections of wealthy British patrons. Among the great British sculptors represented will be Nollekens, Flaxman, Banks, Alfred Stevens and Alfred Gilbert. The galleries tell the story of different phases and types of sculpture. The V&A's collection of Italian garden and fountain statuary is unrivalled outside Florence and Rome. The central section of the gallery, adjacent to the John Madejski garden, will appropriately be given over to this genre. It will show works such as Bernini's Neptune, once owned by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Giambologna's dynamic Samson Slaying a Philistine (c.1562).

Victoria & Albert Museum history:

The V&A began life in 1852, under the directorship of Henry Cole, as the Museum of Manufactures, a gathering objects from the Great Exhibition and a motley collection of plaster casts - it being Albert`s intention to rekindle Britain`s industrial dominance by inspiring factory workers, students and craftspeople with examples of excellence in applied art and design. This idea disappeared fast. Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of the present building in 1899, ten years later Astone Webb`s imposing main entrance, with its octagonal cupola and flying buttresses and pinnacles, was finished.

For more information please visit www.vam.ac.uk