The IWM London was given a major, £30 million refit in recent years, with new 3000 square metre Holocaust and World War II galleries opening in autumn 2021 after six years of renovations.
Visitors to the Lambeth landmark arrive in the Central Hall, an attention- grabbing repository of major artefacts: guns, tanks and aircraft, including a Spitfire used by West Riding RAF Squadron on 57 missions, to the wreckage of a Land Rover operated by press agency Reuters on the Gaza Strip.
Extensive World War I galleries occupy the rest of the ground floor, and feature over 1300 objects encompassing weapons, uniforms, diaries, keepsakes, film and art. The new World War II galleries are even larger, displaying 1500 items, while the first floor leads into new World War II galleries.
On the second floor, the harrowing Holocaust galleries (not recommended from under-14s) tell the individual stories of some of the six million Jews murdered during the deadliest genocide in history via 2,000 photos, books, artworks, letters and personal objects.
The museum’s third floor space is dedicated to temporary exhibitions, while the fifth floor Lord Ashcroft galleries display the world’s largest collection of Victoria Crosses alongside accounts of the indivuals who eanred them in a permanent display called ‘Extraordinary Heroes’.
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