Founded in 1917, the Imperial War Museum was created to record ‘the toil and sacrifice of every individual affected by war’, and it tells the stories of people’s experiences of war from the First World War to the present day. The museum opened to the public in 1920 at the Crystal Palace and moved to its current location in the former Bethlem Royal Hospital (‘Bedlam’) in 1936. The Imperial War Museum is considered the world’s leading authority on conflict and its impact, and its collections include a wide range of material, from film and oral history to works of art, large objects, and personal letters and diaries. The Imperial War Museum (IWM) is a family of five museums: IWM London; IWM North in Trafford, Greater Manchester; IWM Duxford near Cambridge; the Churchill War Rooms in Whitehall, London; and the historic ship HMS Belfast, London.
- Imperial War Museum London
- Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ
- www.iwm.org.uk
- Underground: Lambeth North and Elephant & Castle