Imperial War Museum

The Imperial War Museum is, as the name already reveals, a museum about the wars in which England was involved. You will find information about both the 1st and 2nd World War and the wars after 1945. The museum is housed in a beautiful building with nice gardens around it. A footpath runs up to the museum. Halfway the footpath you will find two enormous canons that belonged to some sort of naval ship.

At the ground floor of the museum you will find the larger exhibits, like tanks, canons and fighter jets. Here you will also find a hands-on experience about Morse and coding or ciphering of secret messages. The other exhibits in the museum are displayed by war. We visited the two biggest areas of the museum, the 1st and the 2nd world war.

In both areas you will find loads of information about the start and development of both wars, how people had to survive during these wars, the bombing of London with the V2 rockets and so on. What really made a lot of impression on me however were the last letters of soldiers, send to their loved ones just before they died in action.

Also you will find two experiences here, the Trench and the Blitz experience. The first really gives you a good impression what it was like to be in the trenches during World War I. Although I can not tell you if the experience is really accurate (I am not that old :+) ), lighting is really good and they even gave it the scent of a trench (I can tell you it smelled badly). Unfortunately we could not visit the Blitz experience. But I will certainly go back to find out about this experience.

I think the museum is great, they cover the most important facts about both World Wars, although most of it is based on the consequences of the wars for England. Everything is explained very understandable. It is a good place for parents to show and explain their children more about WW I and II.

One of the best things is that there are entrance to this museum is free.

Visit the website of the Imperial War Museum for more information.