Housed in the former Bethlem Royal Hospital, the Imperial War Museum
covers 20th Century conflict involving the UK, having been founded
to commemorate World War 1 in 1917.
The name may sound worrying but this is no jingoistic celebration of
past glories. The first exhibit you’ll see is the
remains of a civilian car
destroyed in Baghdad. It stopped me in my tracks and does much to set the tone.
There are large galleries dedicated to both World Wars which are dense and sensitively curated.
The surprise to me though was how terrifyingly current the cold war gallery feels.
I ended my visit at the Holocaust Galleries. I’d definitely go there last, however mentally prepared
you might feel. The horror of it all extinguished any desire to see anything else.
