Imperial War Museum London Reviews (London, England)

I always go to IWM when in London

Northern Va Suburbs of DC, Virginia

October 15, 2011

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The museum is free and they also have special exhibits. Sometimes the special exhibits do charge. They have a whole section on WW1 and another on WW2. With interactive things for kids. There always seems to be school groups here. The Trench ...Read more

From journal London ...There is no place like it...

Upsetting for some but very informative

by Pumpkin88

Brighton, England, United Kingdom

July 7, 2011

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Best of IgoUgo One of my most memorable museum visits was when I went to the Imperial War Museum in London. The museum is located Lambeth Road (Underground: Bakerloo or Northern Line) and is open daily between 10am till 6pm however the last admission is 5.45pm. ...Read more

From journal Museums and galleries in London

Getting Blitzed in London

by proxam2

Scotland, Scotland, United Kingdom

March 2, 2011

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Best of IgoUgo The Imperial War Museum is actually spread across several sites, including: HMS Belfast, the Cabinet War Rooms, Duxford Aviation Museum and a token branch 'oop north' in Manchester, but this review concerns the main building in Lambeth. The museum ...Read more

From journal English Highlights

The Imperial War Museum - Guns, Gadgets & Genocide...

by Liam Hetherington

Manchester, United Kingdom

February 28, 2009

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Best of IgoUgo Despite its out of the way location – gasp! - south of the river!, the Imperial War Museum is the museum in London I have visited the most. Originally created as a testament to the Great War of 1914-18, the IWM has moved with the times, and is now a ...Read more

From journal The A-Muse-ment Arcades: Culture on the Cheap

Imperial War Museum

by callen60

Ozarks, Missouri

April 22, 2008

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Best of IgoUgo If you’re planning a visit to London, this place might not be on your itinerary—but it should be. I’ve visited the IWM during both of my trips, and each time I’ve left wishing that I’d been able to spend more time here than I did. And this time, ...Read more If you’re planning a visit to London, this place might not be on your itinerary—but it should be. I’ve visited the IWM during both of my trips, and each time I’ve left wishing that I’d been able to spend more time here than I did. And this time, with my kids along, they had the same feeling, much to their surprise.

If your first reaction is (much like a friend of mine confessed) ‘thanks, but I’m not that into tanks and guns’, then you’ll miss out on one of the finest museums in a city of great museums. However, the approach to the building, and the collection in the entry hallway, won’t initially dispel your concern: a massive two-gun pair is poised to defend the entrance, and just inside you encounter a V-2 missile, a biplane, a tank, and a number of other implements of warfare from the two World Wars.

But if you stop here, you’ll truly miss out. The exhibits in the museum are very strongly thematic, and focus much more on the experience of troops and civilians in times of conflict. Founded to collect and display material from the ‘Great War’, the doors opened in 1920 at a South Kensington location. Ironically, the Museum is now housed in the former ‘Bedlam’ (Bethlem Royal Hospital), the world’s first psychiatric hospital, where it moved in 1936. Its purview was expanded to include any conflict in which British forces have been engaged, and it uses that to touch on a wide range of issues and approaches to conflict and war.

The highlight is the Holocaust Exhibit, which opened in 2000, and where I spent all of my time on my first visit in 2001. This split level exhibit opens with photos and stories from several Holocaust survivors, some shown on video, describing Jewish life in 1930’s Europe before Hitler’s genocide began. Their stories are augmented—here and throughout the exhibit—by personal photos and other artifacts. The displays then describe the end of World War I, the consequences of the Versailles Treaty, the long-standing roots of anti-Semitism, and Hitler’s rise to power. A major part for me was learning just what information about the Holocaust made it off the Continent and into the British press and other outlets, which was well beyond what I thought was known at the time. Another painful section chronicles the refusal of Britain, the U.S., and Europe to accept Jewish refugees from Germany and Central Europe, as they focus on their worries about this influx might do to their economies.

The second floor follows the grisly details of the German planning, ending with attempts to cover up the killings as Allied troops close in from east and west. It’s not as extensive as the National Holocaust Memorial in Washington, D.C., but it equals that institution in quality and in power. My kids’ biggest regret about London was that their time was limited here. Parents are cautioned against bringing kids younger than 13, and a staff member reminds each person entering the exhibit to turn off cell phones and refrain from taking pictures.

I ended my visit in the Holocaust Exhibit, after seeing a temporary display on ‘Weapons of Mass Communication’. This extensive set of war and propaganda posters from World War I through Vietnam includes German, American, British, Russian, Japanese and other materials, showing how image and text were used to rally support, inform the public, raise funds, and vilify the enemy. It’s too bad this exhibit closes in April 2008—it deserves to be a permanent part of the collection here.

Another exhibit closing shortly is an installation by artist Steve McQueen, entitled ‘Queen and Country’. McQueen has taken photographs of over 100 members of British forces killed in Iraq, and laid out each as a mock postage stamp, complete with the standard silhouette of the Queen in the upper left. Each is reproduced in a full sheet of stamps, and in the margin are details about the serviceman or woman, their unit, and the dates of their birth and death. The large sheets contain several hundred identical stamps, each displayed in the pullout cabinets typical of philatelic exhibits. This exhibit was commissioned by the IWM, and McQueen chose this route to connect the conflict and those lost in it with everyday British lives. Each photograph was used with permission of the families of the soldiers, and knowing that they chose the photograph that was used gives the work even more power. McQueen is currently working to have an official set of stamps issued in honor of those lost in Iraq.

In the basement are major exhibits I still haven’t seen, tracing the origins, development, conduct and consequences of World Wars I and II. I’ve had a growing interest in the Great War and how it frames so much of the decades that followed its conclusion, so I did race to this level for a brief, closing-time walk through the highly realistic ‘Trench Experience’, which is aptly named despite the theme-park like character of this moniker. This recreation of a frontline trench at night is filled with sounds, voices, artifacts and mannequins. Alone in this dark, scary, and completely believable environment, within 10 seconds I felt I understood more about this hellish time than any reading had given me. The prospect of being asked to charge out of the trench and into the shelling outside must have produced a terror in both German and Allied troops that was easy to imagine.

Directions
The Imperial War Museum is on Lambeth Road, a 15-minute walk east from Lambeth Bridge, and about 10 minutes walk west down St. George’s Road from the Elephant & Castle station. Buses 3 and 344 stop run along Lambeth Road, and stop right in front of the Museum (the 3 will take you here from Trafalgar Square or Westminster).
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From journal London, Free and Easy

Imperial War Museum

by climbergirl

cypress, California

March 5, 2007

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Best of IgoUgo Imperial War Museum is not on everyone’s top list of things to do while visiting London, however, it was my favorite museum. I am not a war mongrel of any sort, but the museum is actually very interesting. We ended up at the Imperial War Museum ...Read more Imperial War Museum is not on everyone’s top list of things to do while visiting London, however, it was my favorite museum. I am not a war mongrel of any sort, but the museum is actually very interesting. We ended up at the Imperial War Museum because there were too many kids running around at the Natural History Museum. We spent 3 hours there and it was not enough time at all.
The stop for the Imperial War Museum is kind of far from the rest of the "attractions." You have to take the brown line (Elephant & Castle) almost to the end to the Lambeth stop. Stepping out from the tube you definitely feel like you are in the suburbs. A five minute walk gets you to the museum.

At the main entrance of the museum are 2 huge missile launchers or something of the sort. Once entering the main entrance you go directly to the audio guide rental counter. There is no entrance fee, this museum is FREE. Furthermore, we didn’t rent audio guides or feel the need to rent them in retrospect. By the way coat check is also, you guessed it FREE.

The museum has exhibits for WWI, WWII, the Holocaust, and Crimes Against Humanity.

The entrance floor has various tanks, machine guns, missiles, "little boy," and an interactive submarine experience. The submarine experience is made for kids to learn about how a submarine works, but I actually found it very interesting. There were interactive displays such as a radar tuner where you could hear the different bleeps or blips sounds detected by a radar for different things in the ocean (i.e. whale or a missile). Displays on everyday life in a submarine from sleeping, to eating, even going to the toilet.

The displays for the war memorabilia were incredibly detailed, and ranged from the types of guns and uniforms worn in combat, to the notepads that soldiers used.

One of the highlights to illustrate trench warfare included a life-size trench that a visitor may walk through. Another walk through experience was a "blitzkrieg."

A whole floor is dedicated to the holocaust and another towards crimes to humanity (i.e. genocides darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia)

Don’t think that this museum is for guys into wars for when we visited we are 2 women in our twenties that walked away thinking that the war museum as one of the best museums. It was so enthralling that my friend said to me "let’s stay in here until someone kicks us out." Too bad we didn’t have more time to explore.

www.iwm.org.uk

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From journal London and All That It Has to Offer

Imperial War Museum

by CUL8R

Carlsbad, California

May 8, 2006

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This museum is not as popular as the Cabinet War rooms, but is equally as interesting. It covers the conflicts involving Britain from WWI to present day. There is a sobering Holocaust Exhibition that uses historical material to trace the rise of the ...Read more

From journal Spring Break in London

Imperial War Museum

by patty718

Torrance, California

April 18, 2006

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Best of IgoUgo I went to this museum during Easter Break, which made it full of kids running around. While this was slightly bothersome, I was impressed with the way the museum handled the kids. Being Easter, they provided the children with chance to participate ...Read more

From journal A Week in London

Imperial War Museum

by Cheryl Patterson

Toledo, Ohio

July 5, 2005

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The Imperial War Museum has a huge array of military equipment from 1914 up to the present day. The museum offers an insight into the lives and times of British military personnel and civilians during the First and Second World Wars. Explore tanks ...Read more

From journal London, England - Let a Londoner be Your Guide!

Imperial War Museum

by Glamazon22

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

May 9, 2005

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Best of IgoUgo The Imperial War Museum was one of my favorite stops. I loved it so much, I went twice! For all you WWI and WWII buffs or European History lovers out there, this is the place for you. WWI and WWII were more drastic for the British than for the ...Read more

From journal London Calling

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Imperial War Museum London

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I always go to IWM when in London

Upsetting for some but very informative

Getting Blitzed in London

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I always go to IWM when in London

Upsetting for some but very informative

Getting Blitzed in London

The Imperial War Museum - Guns, Gadgets & Genocide...

Imperial War Museum

Imperial War Museum

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