The Incredible IWM
Staggering tales from many conflicts
A visit to the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth, one of London’s many understated museums, never disappoints. I was not when I visited recently. You cannot miss the building prefaced by the enormous 15-inch barrels of two naval guns (from different ships). I took the 10 minutes walk from Waterloo Station and was gratified to feel the museum’s welcoming effect I first experienced thirty years ago. It is still there in its original setting, nestled away in deepest south-east London. What struck me about the museum then, as it does now, is the extraordinary stories it tells of ordinary men and women throughout the course of the major conflicts afflicting the 20th and early 21st centuries.
All the old favourites can be seen from the basement floor; the Nery gun and limber, the V2 rocket and the suspended Spitfire etc. However, it is the lovingly curated exhibitions and displays on each floor that take the breath away (there is another one under construction as I write). My first visit was to the WW1 exhibition that is simply staggering with its detailed description and extreme granular descriptions of the events that led up to this global catastrophe. I watched countless parents and grandparents answering their younger charges’ questions that came thick and fast as they wandering through the life-size trenches, multi-media presentations and everyday paraphernalia of the combatants. Other exhibitions on different floors are equally impressive and the Holocaust curation at the top of the building is both compelling and moving. Visitors can expect a full half day’s absorption (at least).
I could have stayed here all day. It is incredible - and what’s more, it is free. The IWM can be seen and visited on the Six Bridges walk.
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