Who would dream of building such high rooms with such spectacular volumes for a cup or a dish or a bowl

When I was a boy, I would walk up the stairs and then more stairs [at the V&A]. You had to be resourceful to navigate your way through Medieval Metalwork, and not get lost in Enamels. You reached the top. There were very few places you could see out or even sense the museum below you, the spaces seemed completely self-contained, one enfilade gallery after another after another. In each direction there were armies of vitrines holding pots. Who would dream of building such high rooms with such spectacular volumes for a cup or a dish or a bowl.

There were very few visitors. Sometimes the warders were asleep.

E. de Waal, The white road (2015), 329