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Imperial War Museum Review

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Imperial War Museum

Address: Lambeth Rd., South Bank, London, SE1 6HZ | Map It
Phone: 020/7416-5000
www.iwm.org.uk

Category: Museums/Galleries
Location: South Bank

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Fodor's Review:

Despite its title, this museum of 20th-century warfare does not glorify bloodshed but emphasizes understanding through evoking what life was like for citizens and soldiers alike through the two world wars and beyond. There's an impressive amount of hardware at the main entrance with accompanying interactive material, including a Battle of Britain Spitfire, a German V2 rocket, tanks, guns, and submarines—and from here you can peel off to the various sections of the museum. Sights, sounds, and smells are used to re-create the very uncomfortable Trench Experience in the World War I gallery, which is just as effective as The Blitz Experience in the World War II gallery: a 10-minute taste of an air raid in a street of acrid smoke with sirens blaring and searchlights glaring. There are two galleries of war art on the second floor (by Henry Moore, John Singer Sargent, Stanley Spencer, and William Orpen, to name a few), poetry, photography, and documentary film footage. There's also a permanent Holocaust exhibition, and a Crimes Against Humanity exhibition, which is not suitable for younger children. More recent wars attended by British forces are commemorated, too, in the Victoria and George Cross Gallery. Don't miss the intriguing Secret War Gallery, which charts the history of agents' intrepid work in the wars and the inception of MI5 and MI6, the government's secret services. There's a lovely, bright café where you can rest after your trek south of the river.

Cost: Free (charge for special exhibits)
Open: Daily 10-6
Tube: Lambeth North

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