The Prince's School of Traditional Arts is a school in London which teaches students at the postgraduate degree level, and short open courses and in the community. The school was founded in 2005 by the Prince of Wales as part of The Prince's Charities group, with the aim "to continue the living traditions of the world's sacred and traditional art forms".
The School is believed to be unique among art schools: although there are many theoretical programmes in western universities at graduate and postgraduate level, there are no colleges apart from the School where the practical skills of the Islamic and traditional arts are taught at this level.
The School strives to preserve global traditional arts and traditions under threat of extinction .
Based in the fashionable and artistic area of Shoreditch, an average of 25 students work permanently on site, numbers increasing with students studying PhDs and open courses.
The School was originally established as the Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts Programme (VITA) at the Royal College of Art in 1984. It was the brainchild of Dr. Keith Critchlow, the Professor Emeritus at the School, who is also the author of several books on Sacred Geometry.
The Programme transferred to The Prince of Wales’ Institute of Architecture in 1993 which subsequently became incorporated into The Prince's Foundation in 2000. The School was initiated as a separate charity of HRH Charles, Prince of Wales in April 2004.
Three postgraduate degrees are offered by the school: a Master of Arts (MA), awarded by the University of Wales, a Master of Philosophy degree (MPhil), also awarded by the University of Wales and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.).
Coordinates: 51°31′33″N 0°04′52″W / 51.5258°N 0.0812°W