Hanging Out at the V&A – Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London, England

The V&A Rotunda Chandelier (often known as V&A Chandelier and originally called Ice Blue and Spring Green Chandelier) is a glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly. It hangs under the glass rotunda at the entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London. Considered to be an artwork as much as a source of light, it was installed in 1999 and then substantially altered and enlarged to its current size in 2001, coinciding with a V&A exhibition of the artist’s work.

The chandelier has dimensions of 27 × 12 × 12 feet (8.2 × 3.7 × 3.7 m) and is made of blown glass. It was created with blue, green, and yellow glass composed of fused, relatively small swirling tendrils and sharp protruding edges that extend outward from every side. The top and the bottom are composed of a more rounded shape, while a smaller round arrangement of glass hangs in the middle. The top has a notable protrusion, mainly of light blue glass, which then develops into shades of yellow and green as the viewer’s eye moves downwards.

The massive size of the chandelier and the delicate nature of the glass meant the museum had had to make special accommodations to house and maintain it. Before the chandelier could even be installed, the V&A had to reinforce the ceiling. Cleaning the chandelier requires specialist techniques. It is cleaned piece by piece by a technician on a raised platform. The technician moves slowly around the chandelier cleaning each individual spike and tendril of glass with an antistatic wand made of plastic filaments. This has to be carried out before the museum opens, a process that takes several days.