The Victoria and Albert Museum’s new exhibition, Constantinople to Istanbul: One City, Two Empires, opens to the public in London on Saturday, 7 November 2026, bringing together more than 200 objects across sixteen centuries. The exhibition begins in AD 330 and ends in 1922, the span the V and A uses to tell the story of Constantinople and Istanbul as the capital of two successive empires.
The V and A presents the show as the first exhibition in the UK to tell the full story of Constantinople and Istanbul as the capital of both the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. The Art Newspaper reported the same UK-first claim when the exhibition was announced, describing its scope as the city’s 1,600-year history through art and culture. Senior Curator Tim Stanley and Project Curator Bella Radenovic lead the exhibition.
Constantinople To Istanbul
The exhibition is at V and A South Kensington, in Galleries 38 and 39, from 7 November 2026 to 9 May 2027. The museum lists tickets at 25 pounds on weekdays and 27 pounds at weekends, with concessions available and advance booking recommended. Members’ access should be distinguished from the public opening: the V and A scheduled Members’ Preview Days for 5 to 6 November and separate Members’ Morning View sessions for 7 to 8 November, from 08:00 to 10:00.
The V and A’s 4 November press release calls the Ottoman-focused third section A Capital Reborn, while its visitor guide, updated on 6 November, calls it Power and Reach. The objects include ceramics, textiles, metalwork, manuscripts and paintings, showing how art, trade and faith shaped the city over more than a thousand years. Visitors can trace how Constantinople became Istanbul, and how the city remained a centre of culture, commerce and learning through periods of change.
For London, the exhibition is one of the major cultural openings of the autumn, alongside the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum, Frida Kahlo at Tate Modern, and Renoir and Love at the National Gallery. The V and A said the show offers a chance to see objects that rarely travel, and to understand a city that has linked Europe and Asia for centuries.
Source: Mkniralo
