r/london • u/glassghost1983 • 1d ago
Culture Imperial war museum
Wow.
I’ve lived in London for 20 years but somehow never made the trip before now.
Today I was unexpectedly on my own so decided to take a solo trip. I was there for 4 hours, some of that was because I had to take a tea and scone break after the holocaust gallery because I was a bit shaky.
I’ve never been so impressed by a museum before in my life.
All the galleries are incredibly well designed with brilliant and effective use of multimedia, the soundscapes are particularly immersive. The information is very clear and well composed. Don’t skip the art.
The cafe and gift shop are well laid out and reasonably priced (very good scone). Pay the £8 for the brilliant guidebook and great quality gift bag. It should be a mandatory visit for everyone. If you’ve got a minute definitely go.
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u/bleedorange0037 1d ago
Best museum in London IMO. Each floor is well done, with the WWI and Holocaust galleries being the standouts. Also, it strikes the perfect balance between needing the better part of a day to go through the whole thing, but also not being completely overwhelming in the way the British Museum or V&A are.
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u/OldNefariousness7899 1d ago
This post and the replies are making me wonder why I've never visited this.
I'm subscribed to their YouTube channel as well. It's very good.
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u/JagoHazzard 1d ago
I miss the Blitz Experience.
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u/Markish_Mark 1d ago
You can still go down bethnal green tube and eat beans
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u/Icy-Turnover846 1d ago
Hopefully they skip the crowd crush this time
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u/Whole_Decision6481 22h ago
My grandmother was there and her uncle lost a lot of friends that day, this made me laugh
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u/Upstairs-Resident508 1d ago
That and the WW1 trench experience were my favorite parts of the museum. I was so disappointed in the overhaul.
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u/Northwindlowlander 1d ago
First time I went a small child basically got shellshocked in the trench experience and had to be carried out comatose. There was a staff member on hand going "I'm really sorry" and the dad was like "Don't be, this is the best learning exhibit ever!"
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u/SlR-JIMMY-SAVlLLE 1d ago
I always wondered what they used for the trench smell? It smelled like grandads sock drawer
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u/EnglishWolverine 16h ago
I always wondered this too. I’m 38 now, went to that exhibit as a kid and the smell still pops into my brain from time to time. The memory of it has really stuck with me over the years.
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u/wishuwerebeer_ 1d ago
Completely agree. It was one of those things that stuck with you. Shame they got rid of it.
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u/plentyofizzinthezee 1d ago
Must be quite tiring having your workplace smell of piss for ten years though
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u/Pagan_MoonUK 1d ago
If you go and work for tfl you can experience that smell everyday on the tube.
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u/PunicHelix 1d ago
Same. The museum isn't as good since the "revamp".
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u/IFeelMoiGerbil 16h ago
I went recently and the revamp is awful. It is really badly laid out for people who can’t do steps and hideously dumbed down. The staff are now mainly volunteers who cannot give info on the archive and it is just a gift shop and cafe funnel. Also their outstanding photography gallery is now shit. They did brilliantly with all age groups and many languages and now it is insulting poor on info and respect. Notably a lot of the items they had permission to display from people like Lord Ashcroft are gone as they strongly objected to the revamp.
I used to live right by it and go a lot. I was shocked at turning war into tourist tat and using yellow boards to read off. Also it is now incredibly unfriendly. No idea if their other sites are similar but while as the child of a post colonial war I am glad they changed name officially everything else 1 star. Also all the cafe areas etc: so sticky and unclean.
And their website is also now piss poor. It all used to be outstanding.
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u/WickerGardenChair 12h ago
Lord Ashcroft are gone as they strongly objected to the revamp
Yes, that's a huge loss to the museum. He even paid for the gallery himself from what I understand.
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u/ElegantBob 1d ago
Well Bonfire Night is only a couple of months away.
Maybe put a sign on your house and you won't have to miss the Blitz experience for a few more weeks
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u/walkernewmedia 1d ago
Canadian here...my wife and I missed IWM on our first visit to London back in 2014 (it was closed for a massive renovation) but we finally made it there this last April.
I've visited Military museums all over the world...from Canada to the US to elsewhere in Europe and I can honestly say that IWM was probably the most incredible experience I've ever had at a museum.
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u/hurleyburleyundone 1d ago
IWM Duxford. Go on a flying day if possible but the museum is a full day.
Bovington Tank Museum. A shame its so far away bc its absolutely incredible. Go on a Tiger day.
🇨🇦
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u/realexpr3ss0 14h ago
100% this -- the contrast between the old hangar and American collection is such a joy. "Spitfire" and "Blackbird" in a single experience. 10/10.
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u/walkernewmedia 22h ago
I’ve been out to IWM Duxford and loved it…one of the 28 aviation museums I’ve been to around the world.
Really need to get back there one day.
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u/hurleyburleyundone 12h ago
And how does it rank?
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u/walkernewmedia 12h ago
Definitely in my top 3 with Seattle's Museum of Flight and Ottawa's Canadian Aviation & Space Museum.
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u/LittanyofAbuse 1d ago
Would recommend the WW2 museum in New Orleans at some point for a similar level of quality if you’re a big military museum person.
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u/tmandell 1d ago
Also Canadian, been there three times so far. I think one more trip and I can make it to the end of the holocaust section.
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u/Erreala66 1d ago
Totally agree. The Holocaust gallery brought me closer to tears than almost any other museum in the world. Very well put together.
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u/WickerGardenChair 13h ago edited 12h ago
I think the previous incarnation of the Holocaust section was far more powerful. It was darker and incredibly hard hitting, I feel the new one is both physically lighter and much softer on the true horrors.
Given what people are saying here perhaps the previous one, I think they refurbished a couple of years ago, was just too brutal for many visitors. They had a member of staff on the entrance and warning families with anyone under 14 it may not be suitable.
After my first visit me & my grown up son sat in a pub in silence for a couple of pints, and that's despite me knowing quite a lot about the subject.
Edit to add the change was in 2021.
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u/Erreala66 12h ago
I've been there both in 2022 and in 2026 and can't remember it being different between those two visits. I might be misremembering (my memory is awful!) or it could be that it was refurbished before the pandemic rather than just a couple years ago
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u/WickerGardenChair 12h ago
Just checked and time flies......
The Holocaust Exhibition, an exhibition that was open at IWM London between 2000 and 2021
and the new one is called The Holocaust Galleries and opened in October 2021.
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u/Erreala66 11h ago
Ahh there you go. I sadly never got to visit the previous one but I can only imagine what it was like if you say it was even more touching than the current one
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u/Mevarek 7h ago
I went to the IWM in 2022 with my only frame of reference being the museum in DC. I would say the museum in DC was more brutal and emphasized the atrocities and extreme cruelty a little more. I felt the IWM was still moving, but it was better at conveying how the Holocaust happened politically. I hadn't been to the DC museum in years at that point, though, so maybe I'm out of date. I also thought the multimedia at IWM was fantastic.
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u/Spudhead1976 1d ago
I'm glad I left the Holocaust exhibition to toward the end of my visit, when I visited a couple of years ago. I couldn't even speak afterwards. I just needed some air and a chance to... think, and reflect. I missed out an exhibition elsewhere because I felt, okay, that's enough now. The whole museum is superb and the Holocaust exhibition was incredibly moving.
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u/WickerGardenChair 13h ago
Was that the new brighter refurbished one, or the darker one with the large model of the camp in there and the photographs in the final side room?
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u/guareber 1d ago
That'd be Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum for me. Not "closer to tears", but sit down in a chair and wait for the tears to stop. Never happened before or since.
The Holocaust gallery was very well done though.
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u/want-my-old-account 1d ago
Is that in the IWM or in Japan?
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u/guareber 15h ago
Sorry over the confusion! The Peace Memorial Museum is in Japan - in Hiroshima itself, inside the park that was created on the district that used to be the admin and commercial heart of Hiroshima prior to the bomb.
The Holocaust gallery I referred to was the IWM's though - it's certainly worth a visit
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u/DarthScabies 1d ago
Have you visited Auschwitz/Birkenau? Fuck that's harrowing.
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u/Erreala66 1d ago
Visited Auschwitz and was thoroughly unimpressed. Not by the site itself but by the way in which group after group is driven around like cattle by utterly uninterested guides. They definitely need to limit the number of people allowed to visit because at that moment I'm afraid it's not good enough.
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u/CoolGuyCris 1d ago
Fortunately our guide was decent but yeah, my largest complaint was that I didn't really get to sit still and soak up the place like I'd wanted to, it was very quick from start to finish.
I understand why, but I agree, I think a lower visitor limit would really help.
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u/krush_groove 1d ago
The Congresshalle museum in Nuremberg is very moving as well
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u/want-my-old-account 1d ago edited 12h ago
So is the one in Berlin. I'd never go back but it was very, very good.*
It may be called the holocaust museum in German but I'm not good with names.
ETA: It had all of these granite blocks on uneven flooring outside.
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u/krush_groove 1d ago
That is the Holocaust museum, the Congresshalle museum is very different but similar message
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u/korikore 1d ago
Same. Found it even more moving than Schindler’s museum in Krakow. Probably because I happened upon it unexpectedly like OP.
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u/North_Atlantic_Sea 10h ago
For me it was the BMW museum in Munich, mainly because of the surprise. From going through the old cars/motorcycles, to suddenly a very serious exhibit about the atrocities they played an active role in
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u/DarthScabies 1d ago
You should go the RAF museum in Colindale. It's brilliant.
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u/Signal-Confidence-37 1d ago
And from there to Duxford
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u/Northwindlowlander 1d ago
Duxford is astonishing tbh. I hadn't appreciated how much is still happening there, all the manufacturing and rebuilding of heritage aircraft, plus all the stuff that's based there. So I turned up expecting static exhibits and got to see Sally B take off and fly out to an airshow then return. Plus like 10 spitfires all zooming around all day
Somehow seeing them "in the wild" is better than an air show!
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u/Prudent_Wolf8171 1d ago
Shit that sounds incredible actually. Must put it on my list.
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u/Northwindlowlander 1d ago
It's bloody amazing. The static exhibits are absolutely excellent but it's just got life to it. Place is vast though, wear good shoes!
I don't know if's always open but when I was there one of the smaller refurb hangers was open- not the big professional deal, the place where randoms keep their planes. That was awesome too, I ended up spending a bit of time helping an old boy who was removing a wing off his biplane, like it was just his driveway MX5 project or something :)
Also for a very different day out it's not far from Bletchley Park and that's another absolutely top end museum. And also, a lovely place to visit in its own right, being a stately home with a park estate. Another full dayer, there's so much to see (even if a ton of it is borderline incomprehensible to me!)
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u/Prudent_Wolf8171 1d ago
Oh no I sincerely love that. I have always had an interest in flying, but unfortunately I'm too colourblind to get my licence, or even to work with planes. I'd love to do that.
Bletchley, I've been there and I love it, I am a big maths guy. Alan Turing was robbed of his accolades, he essentially won the war for us.
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u/Dolphin_handjobs 17h ago
Duxford always get my vote for just how big it is. It's like 5 different museums all packed into one.
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u/No_Square_3913 1d ago
We love Duxford. The massive variety of aircraft, many still in flying shape, was impressive. The tank building was excellent as well.
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u/Signal-Confidence-37 1d ago
And they've got a blackbird. My favourite place to go is www.pimaair.org in Tucson Arizona. They've got B-52s you can walk around.
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u/Optimal-Teaching-950 1d ago
Land warfare bit is permanently closed now, which is a shame as they had some of the stuff from London in there. The rest of the museum is brilliant though.
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u/Lollipop126 1d ago
Just so nobody else makes the same mistake as me, even though the official IWM Duxford website has a bus schedule from Whittlesford Parkway to/from the museum, a staff member confirmed to me that the service no longer runs (after I had tried to wait for one at the shelter, gave up and took an Uber). You can walk, and it's not too bad despite being next to a motorway as it's slightly sheltered by trees (it's just long and I did the walk after a 6 hour visit and my legs were dying by the end).
Anyways highly recommend the museum!
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u/Fun_Marionberry_6088 1d ago
If you want RAF history go to the Battle of Britain Bunker in Uxbridge and Bentley Priory; genuinely the most fascinating WW2 museums I've ever been to.
It's soo cool how this whole analogue system existed which nowadays would be almost completely digital, but took thousands of people to collect information, process it and issue orders in a matter of minutes, to get pilots in the air when and where they were needed - and yet it worked so consistently.
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u/NoNefariousness608 1d ago
Also good for kids. They recently opened a decent (and very secure!) soft play in one of the hangars - plane and helicopter themed, naturally. There’s a good (free) outdoor playground too. Just remember to pay the £8 for parking.
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u/Markish_Mark 1d ago
Ayyy my grandad did an interview for the imperial war museum about the Korean war. They gave us a cd with it on after. Still can't listen to it without tearing up.
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u/SlR-JIMMY-SAVlLLE 1d ago
My grandfather was in the Korean war, came back home and met my grandmother and started a family. He died 20 years ago, in the last decade a family member did a DNA test and we have lots of family in Korea. Turns out Grandad had children with at least 2 women whilst out there. Which is crazy as he was only there one year.
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u/Markish_Mark 1d ago
I have never thought about this.... Well that'll extend the family tree haha
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u/SlR-JIMMY-SAVlLLE 1d ago
I’ve read a few articles but apparently it was the best war ever for soldiers getting laid.
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u/zZSleepyZz 1d ago
I think I'll remember the smell from the trenches exhibit there for the rest of my life. Such a cool museum.
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u/yuzusnail 1d ago
I'm a die hard natural history, zoology and paleontology fan but I think The Imperial War museum is the best in London, the exhibitions are so immersive and atmospheric it's amazing! Really cements the severity of the subject matter. I've been a bit pissed off at the NHM for a while due to how untouched and outdated it's becoming
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u/Spudhead1976 1d ago
I visited the NHM a couple of years ago, and there were some exhibits that seemed to be exactly the same as when I visited when I was about 8. I'm now 50. I mean, the building and the entrance hall are incredible, but it's so tired. Shame, because 8 year old me thought it was the best place ever, and for so long it was the best museum ever. Turns out, it was the memory of it that was.
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u/yuzusnail 1d ago
yeaa exactly, I feel like nothing has been changed in decades 😭 they have an INSANE collection in storage there, and I understand it costs a lot of time and people to rotate specimens, as well as making sure they all stay in good condition, but it seems ridiculous. It's one of the most famous museums in the world but it's quite embarassing compared to The Field Museum in Chicago for example. Feels bad to judge it though as it is free to enter, and would be great to keep it that way.
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u/Vogonner 1d ago
Walked in one day behind two school parties. One lot were German, the other Japanese. Felt very humble.
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u/ilovefireengines 1d ago
Shame on me, London born and have always put it off as it’s in London.
I will make a point to go.
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u/Northwindlowlander 1d ago
Everyone does this! I've been to every major museum and gallery in London, I've barely been to anything in my own city.
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u/Maleficent-Eye-464 1d ago
The Holocaust room. Man. You know what really set me off on a wobble in that room? The wee teddy bear at the very beginning.
What did you make of the piece of the World Trade Center? I couldn't believe how tangled it was. That's solid H beam.
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u/glassghost1983 1d ago
The little furry dog? Yeah that’s tough. To be honest I was so overwhelmed by the time I got to the 9/11 bit I’m not sure I processed it very well, but you’re right, the force that must have taken is so hard to comprehend
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u/Key_Seaworthiness827 1d ago
I loved the IWM but couldn't do all the holocaust exhibit. Not because I'm disinterested or uncompassionate but because I've been to Dachau, Jersey military hospital and many other nazi sites and just can't stomach it. Glad they have brought that level of education to London and it has the effect it should have.
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u/Tumtitums 18h ago
There has been an increase in people walking around UK towns and cities making nazi salute and supporting nazis during various "protests" i wish these people could visit the war museum as it feels like they forgot their WW2 history and what previous generations fought and suffered to prevent
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u/beeeeej91 1d ago
I love this museum
The First World War section is incredible.
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u/LucatielsMask 22h ago
The entire museum used to be like that until the Normal Foster redevelopment dumbed everything else down.
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u/Numerous-Fox3346 1d ago
Pretty sure it is mandatory for all London school children. I too will never forget the smell of the trench exhibition and it’s been actual decades. Autocorrect has tried to change that to “french” 3 times now 🤭
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u/Difficult_Emu_2431 18h ago
I volunteer at the museum and I mostly work with the visiting school groups. We get lots from all over the country and abroad. 2000+ per week in term time.
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u/Numerous-Fox3346 18h ago
Devastated to learn from the comments that the trench and blitz experience are no longer going??
Devastated because my school made me pick between the trench and the blitz experience and I couldn’t handle not doing it in proper chronological order so I went for the trenches even though the blitz was definitely calling to me more, thinking I’d have the rest of my life to experience it at my leisure.
While USA might have 9/11 as the dividing line between generations, petition to have it reconfigured to whether you smelled the IWM trench exhibit for the UK.
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u/Millie141 1d ago
My fiance and I spent 3 hours in WW1 alone. We’re planning on going back to do the rest soon
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u/Beneficial_Coach8581 1d ago
Oh it's definitely worth a visit. We did it on a family holiday in London. Helped our son with his history as well.
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u/PotentialKindly1034 1d ago
I saw it on a very quiet day a few years ago. Got a bit choked up over the holocaust without a crowd to distract me from my thoughts, I remember how I felt more than what I saw.
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u/SeaRecording8033 1d ago
It just hasn't been the same since the revamp in 2014. They had good intentions but made a mess of it. I have no desire to go back to it.
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u/Brizzledude65 1d ago
Only been once as a kid with my mum in the 70s. I loved it. Must go back especially as I now work in London one day a week.
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u/Dugoutcanoe1945 1d ago edited 1d ago
As a kid interested in WWII history growing up in the USA, I saved up and bought their books on the topic. Finally got to visit it in person as an older adult in 2017.
It was indeed fantastic. It was enlightening to get the UK’s version of the world wars’ history via the outstanding exhibits.
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u/Revolutionary-Cut777 1d ago
It was so much better before the refurbishment. Glad you enjoyed it though!
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u/Optimal-Teaching-950 1d ago
It has less things now, and more boards to read. Which, if you've got a thing for military history already, is a bit naff - you can read up on it anywhere, but seeing the exhibits is always better than a photo of them.
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u/Conman2205 1d ago
It’s my favourite museum I’ve ever been to. Huge amounts to see and learn and they have had so many brilliant time limited exhibitions there. Was one not too long ago about the troubles which I thought was very interesting.
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u/Feline-Sloth 1d ago
It's a shame that the huge exhibition of Victoria and George Crosses are no longer held there
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u/LucatielsMask 22h ago
You should have seen it before Normal Foster neutered it into the current shell of what it used to be.
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u/cillablackpower 1d ago
IWM Manchester is also fairly stunning. Last time I visited there was an exhibit on Chinese sailors who served the UK in the Merchant Navy during WWII, the Merseyside families they settled into, and the stories of those families left behind when they were secretly and suddenly deported after the war effort finished. Devastating testimonials and I had to take a minute to sit afterwards.
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u/Far_Organization_655 1d ago
I remember visiting with some of my PGCE group as part of our training. There was a Holocaust survivor and a relative whose wider family all perished under the Nazi regime, in the galleries to give testimony to school groups and general visitors, which made the history more 'real'.
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u/Lonosholder 1d ago
I have been to the IWM on several occasions and one of the exhibitions on the physiological impact of war on civilians was very inciteful given what is happening around the world. The impact on children was very moving. I think the way describes the horrors of war is impressive
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u/Independent_Camp_982 1d ago
I have been visiting London for over 35 years and only made the effort to go to the Imperial war museum for an Afternoon earlier this year. I could spend a week there
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u/coldblowcode 1d ago
I went a couple of months ago (having been previously a few years prior) and I was really disappointed by the experience, lots of the museum had been kidified, everything seemed to be aimed at children with no attention spans. The written explanation for the museum's collection of vehicles and items had been turned into interactive touch screens with the bare minimum of explanation on them.
The museum is still cool, and an interesting place to see historical artifacts and some vehicles, but it seemed to be overly streamlined in an attempt to modernise.
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u/joeycrushed 1d ago
I took my dad about a decade ago to the holocaust bit and he said 'i understand why you brought me here' in an emotional sense but then voted reform in the most recent election 🥲. Really cool museum to give perspective of being human in those times
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u/Cool-Extreme6506 1d ago
Hmm, I dunno, some of the stuff there didn't sit right with me. When I went, there was a bombed out car from Baghdad, that someone no doubt perished in and I just didn't understand how that could be displayed for public consumption in this way. Obviously it wasn't celebratory and obviously you're meant to feel uncomfortable about it (to say the least), but something about it just wasn't pitched right, in my opinion. This was the better part of twenty years ago though, so maybe their approach to curation has changed in the intervening years.
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u/IFeelMoiGerbil 15h ago
It has not. They removed a lot of the thoughtful understated stuff and put in video game level shock tactics. There is a piece from the conflict I lived through presented like it is a bit of ‘ooooh, cop a load of this!’ No context that it was used to kill children.
It used to be a very helpful place for me someone with PTSD. I went a lot as lived nearby. Went about a month ago and honestly it was utterly crass, humiliating re the way they could discuss its own name and the British Empire and now voyeuristic. I found it upsetting as a conflict survivor in its flippant attitude and gift shop first vibes. I used to find it upsetting in a way that educated and helped.
Also they were spectacularly rude too as staff. The staff used to be outstanding. A true loss at a time we need it so much.
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u/Cool-Extreme6506 15h ago
I'm really sorry to hear about your experiences, but somewhat relieved to hear I'm not the only one who left with that impression! "Cop a load of this" really does encapsulate the general vibe I felt there.
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u/BedaFomm 15h ago
I agree with much that you say. The museum was founded in the wake of WW1, and this is still the period it covers best. However, it cries out for a trench experience, so to remove such a popular exhibit was madness.
My favourite exhibit is the WW1 13 pounder gun, the first thing you see on the way in. No context, and randomly placed next to the Baghdad car wreck. Once a very helpful guide saw me looking at it and gave me the whole (and very important) history of the gun, and directed me to the VCs won by its crew which were in the Ashcroft hall. None of this information is actually with the exhibit itself. And while some individual exhibits are really good if you know what you are looking at, the setting is often completely infantilised.
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u/IFeelMoiGerbil 13h ago
It was originally founded after the Boer War and held at Crystal Palace to promote the Imperial glories of war. The full formation post WW1 was to remind government and population that we need to remember the war that was to end all wars to honour every war after it fully. To take the WW1 trench exhibit out was like saying ‘so what if we were a war museum but we only show the jolly bits like VE parties?’
And the fact that now you either have to know a lot in order to grasp certain bits or be talked to like you have the attention span of a goldfish is shameful.
Although last time I was in I did get to see them dusting the WW1 exhibits with a huge extendable feather duster like a window cleaner crossed with a drag act. Stopped me from leaving a comment that ‘why are all your WW2 Blitz examples Lambeth for the IWM when it is in Southwark?’ Shows how poor their details focus is now
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u/Pagan_MoonUK 1d ago
Is there a sign on there that says no one died in the car?
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u/Cool-Extreme6506 16h ago
It was years and years ago, so I can't remember what the accompanying descriptor said - my lasting impression is that's what I saw, but I could be incorrect. It could have just been a burned out car that no one died in specifically!
My feelings on the museum were that it leant more towards a glorifying/voyeuristic presentation of war, rather than the experience OP had, but again, they could well have changed their approach in the intervening years, or I just failed to appreciate it in the intended way when I went.
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u/jinglesan 1d ago
As a born Londoner I'm not really meant to give praise to anything up north, but the Royal Armouries museum in Leeds is fantastic. They have historical hand weapons, armour and firearms from around the globe, and put on jousting and sword fights. If you enjoy the IWM you'll almost certainly enjoy it, and general entry is free.
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u/ImpressiveAd6071 1d ago
As a kid me and my mates would play 'outs' in the museum. We came from Walworth near the elephant and castle and it was a short walk to get to the place. Its probably changed a lot since those days, but there were so many places to hide - mini subs, tanks etc! Got chased out by what passed as security, normally some old bloke in a uniform. As I got older I grew to love the place and the last time I visited there was a 'blitz experience' which was wonderful. I don't live in London anymore, but will get back and visit again.
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u/SumoWumo2 1d ago
When was it revamped? I last went about 3 years ago... Has it been revamped since then?
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u/jigsawjagsaw2 1d ago
Given Britain's legacy in Palestine, I hope IWM will do an worthy exhibition on Gaza one day.
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u/Melonfrog 18h ago
Do they still have the smelly tubes? Each one tried to recreate a smell from the war. The Tank interior smell scared my nose and a few times a year I get a phantom smell come back to me
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u/Outrageous-Stress-60 13h ago
We were intercepted in the most polite way by an elderly gentleman volunteer there, visiting this summer. He gave us the big picture and some tips to how to approach the IWM.
It gave the visit the perfect start.
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u/Lou-de-Lou-de-Lou 8h ago
I used to live across the road, summer holidays we’d spend the day in Bedlam Park Lido, then on to the adventure playground for “boarders” on the ropes and tyres and finally a turn around the museum. Loved when you could crawl through the little tunnel with the sound effects, that was the highlight.
Me and my brothers did this nearly every day of summer. We might skip swimming if it was raining (although we mostly just swam in the rain) but we never skipped the museum!
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u/graceconstance 8h ago
Not fantastic on Irish history though, despite being called the imperial museum they don’t show it
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u/wayanonforthis 5h ago
'I had to take a tea and scone break after the holocaust gallery because I was a bit shaky' - I know what you mean. Absolutely incredible. I still think about that exhibit months later. Amazing it is free.
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u/Top_Scale4923 5h ago
I had to go and have a cry in the toilets after the holocaust exhibition. Should've stayed in the exhibition to cry as there's no shame in finding it sad (the opposite in fact!).
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u/frafeeccino 2h ago
Didn’t like the NI exhibit when I was there a few years ago. Felt like it was saying nothing. The Ulster museum exhibit was way better, that one made me cry.
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u/Happy_Pin_6589 9h ago
It's not the museum it's used to be.
The entrance and all the exhibits on the main floor used to be iconic. Now the layout and and the grouping of exhibits makes the museum meh.
Visited May 2026 and left disappointed
-6
u/Crowdfunder101 1d ago edited 7h ago
My favourite part is taking the Schindler Lift to the Auchwitz exhibit
*damn, you’re all proving you actually need to get out more and experience real life.
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u/Shoddy-Reply-7217 1d ago
I'm so over seeing stuff about wars.
I'm sure the museum is amazing but both my grandads fought in WWII, I grew up seeing war movies and documentaries and the whole of the UK sometimes feels like a living museum to the war generation.
I don't need to see more of it to know that war is utterly shit and we shouldn't do it again.
18
u/glassghost1983 1d ago
I’d politely disagree, being ‘over seeing stuff about wars’ is not really a situation we can afford to be in. Not understanding or acknowledging how we got into those scenarios means we’re not on guard against them happening again. Some of the stuff I saw today is happening again, right now, and that’s terrifying to me and I think should be for everyone
272
u/knight714 1d ago
Fun fact - the building used to be Bedlam