First YouTube Video Preserved at Victoria and Albert Museum

A piece of internet history has officially entered the museum world.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has acquired and reconstructed the very first YouTube video ever uploaded, titled “Me at the zoo,” posted by co-founder Jawed Karim on April 23, 2005.

The 19-second clip, showing a 25-year-old Karim at the San Diego Zoo commenting on elephant trunks, has amassed 382 million views and 18 million likes.

Museum digital conservation experts spent 18 months reconstructing YouTube’s watch page as it appeared on December 8, 2006, the oldest archived version of the platform, in collaboration with YouTube’s user experience team.

The exhibit is now on display in the Design 1900-Now gallery, offering visitors a chance to step back to the dawn of Web 2.0.

YouTube’s CEO calls it an invitation to witness the beginning of a global cultural phenomenon, while curators mark it as a pivotal moment in internet history and digital design.