V&A Dundee celebrates its first birthday

V&A Dundee celebrates its first birthday

V&A Dundee welcomed over 830,000 visitors in its first year, 330,000 more than the pre-opening estimate of 500,000 visitors.

In the last 12 months the museum was visited by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for its official opening, made the front cover of TIME Magazine as one of the world’s Greatest Places of 2019, won numerous awards, hosted filming of BBC Antiques Roadshow and even featured in an IRN-BRU Snowman advert.

V&A Dundee’s opening last year marked over ten years of planning and preparation, including the design of Kengo Kuma’s remarkable new building, major conservation projects including Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Oak Room, and a wide range of new commissions and learning projects.

Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee, said: “The last 12 months have been remarkable, and I can hardly believe all that’s been achieved in that time. As well as welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors and putting on world-class exhibitions

championing Scottish and international design, the museum has really become part of the city, and for that I’d like to thank everyone for their support.

We’re very proud of the contribution we have already made to Dundee and Scotland, and the opportunities we are generating for our nation’s creative talent, such as our current exhibition of work by the brilliant young fashion designer Nicholas Daley. We look forward to welcoming many more visitors to our upcoming major exhibitions Hello, Robot and Mary Quant.

The museum is estimated to have had an economic impact of £23 million across Scotland in its first year, supporting 604 full-time equivalent jobs.

As well as welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors and putting on world-class exhibitions championing Scottish and international design, the museum has really become part of the city...