By the Victoria & Albert Museum. The Portico de la Gloria is one of the most remarkable monuments of Romanesque art. It is intricately carved with biblical scenes, interspersed with prophets, saints and angles. In 1866, the Museum commissioned the Italian plaster maker, Domenico Brucciani, to journey to Spain to produce a copy of it. This cast is over 17 metres wide. It determined the dimensions of the Cast Courts, which were built in 1873 to display this and other monumental copies of architecture and artworks from around the world. Find out more about our Cast Courts: https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/cast-collection. Created by Smarthistory.

By the Victoria & Albert Museum. Follow our conservation team as they carefully clean and repair a magnificent 19th century jama – a style of garment worn by men in India for centuries. This impressive example is embellished with gold and pieces of jewel beetle-wing cases, and needed delicate conservation before it could be put on display. Watch the processes that have added decades of life to this spectacular piece. Find out more: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/jama. Created by Smarthistory.

By the Victoria & Albert Museum. Senior Furniture Conservator Dana Melchar discusses working with lacquer conservators from Korea and learning about the specialist techniques that they used in the original production of these objects. Discover more about our Korean collection: https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/korea. Created by Smarthistory.

From the Victoria & Albert Museum. Nigel Bamforth, Senior Conservator, Furniture and Wood Conservation at the Victoria and Albert Museum, describes the condition of Tipu's Tiger and analysis of this unique object. Discover more: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/tipus-tiger. Created by Smarthistory.

By the Victoria & Albert Museum. Victor Borges, Senior Sculpture Conservator at the V&A, discusses the V&A collection and the new discoveries which have uncover new information on their materials, techniques, history and provenance. Find out more: https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/conservation. Created by Smarthistory.

Diana Heath, Senior Metals Conservator at the V&A, describes the challenges of treating the Wolsey Angels – rare examples of copper figures created for the English Tudor court at the height of the Renaissance, between 1524 and 1529. The Angels were made by the Italian sculptor, Benedetto da Rovezzano (1474–1554), to adorn a magnificent tomb commissioned by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. After the English Civil War, the Angels disappeared, and were only recently rediscovered, having stood unrecognised on the gateposts of a stately home in Northamptonshire, perhaps for centuries. Not originally intended for outdoor exposure, their surfaces altered radically over time. The separation of each pair of Angels accounts for their difference in appearance, together with the loss of their wings. Extensive conservation work at the V&A has now enlivened the appearance of the Angels and ensured their future preservation. The Wolsey Angels were purchased with the support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund, a gift in memory of Melvin R. Seiden, the Friends of the V&A, the Ruddock Foundation for the Arts, the American Friends of the V&A, and many other generous donors thanks to a major public appeal in 2014. Find out more: https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/conservation. Created by Smarthistory.

By the Victoria & Albert Museum. The beautiful Ardabil Carpet is one of the most important objects in the V&A’s Middle Eastern Collection, and the centrepiece of our Jameel Gallery of Islamic art. As the world’s oldest dated carpet, it is incredibly delicate and needs careful preservation. How is such a large and precious object preserved? Join our Head of Science, Boris Pretzel, and curator of Islamic Collections at Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Moya Carey, to find out how it can be kept in displayable condition over the next 500 years. Find out more: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-ardabil-carpet. Created by Smarthistory.

By the Victoria & Albert Museum. The V&A is home to the national collection of portrait miniatures – tiny paintings from the 16th century which offer a great insight into how people looked and dressed. With issues such as paint flaking and mould growth, these delicate objects must be cared for carefully. Find out how we investigate and analyse the miniatures in order to understand more about what they were made of, when they were made, and how to conserve them. Discover more: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/portrait-miniatures. Created by Smarthistory.

Flowers in a Glass Vase is a beautiful still life painted by the Dutch artist Jacob van Walscapelle in 1667 — the earliest known signed work by this artist. We don't believe that the painting has been treated since it was bequeathed to the V&A in 1900. Over time, the oil paint has started to flake, and the natural varnish has become discoloured. The painting is now undergoing thorough conservation work, which includes carefully reattaching paint flakes, removing discoloured varnish, applying new varnish and retouching. Transformed, the painting will go on display in Room 81 of the V&A Paintings Galleries. https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/paintings.

This film, shot in workshops in Mumbai and Jaipur, illustrates the making of a pair of traditional enamelled earrings in preparation for kundan setting. www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-bejewelled-treasures-the-al-thani-collection/.

The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection includes some of the world’s most spectacular Micromosaics. This film explores this astonishing technique through the recreation of a historic micromosaic, made from millimetre-thin canes of glass at SICIS The Art Mosaic Factory. Learn more about micromosaics from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/gilbert-mosaics. Created by Smarthistory.

An ironwork cross almost 3m high was the uppermost feature of a magnificent screen in Salisbury Cathedral, designed by G G Scott and made by Francis Skidmore, erected in about 1870. The screen was taken down in 1959 and mostly sold, but the cross survived. Its surface was rusty and corroded, but small traces of original distinctive red paint and gilding remained. Painstakingly the cross was taken apart and each piece cleaned using dry ice, then repainted and gilded. Replacement parts were made using the latest digital technology. The restored cross was reassembled and is now a dazzling highlight of the ironwork galleries. https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections.

By the Victoria & Albert Museum. Focusing on the three types of object featured in the V&A display Renaissance Watercolours: illuminated manuscripts, portrait miniatures and coloured drawings, this film showcases the qualities that made watercolour the medium of choice for many artists during the Renaissance. A modern-day painting of a pomegranate, using traditional watercolour techniques, by artist Lucy Smith, also demonstrates how watercolour painting remains a versatile medium, ideal for capturing life-like details that help us to record our diverse world.

The Bullerswood carpet (measuring approximately 4 m wide by 7.5 m long) is one of the objects on display in the V&A’s British Galleries. The carpet was designed by William Morris (1834–1896) and woven by Morris & Co, Hammersmith, London, in about 1889. It has a cotton warp, jute weft, and woollen pile coloured with a range of natural dyes. The richly-coloured complex design consists of scrolling arabesques with stylised flowers and birds and a border with repeat motifs of leaves and flowers.