More than one visited needed to truly appreciate this museum (Imperial War Museum (London))

Member Name: bucksfizz66

Product:	Imperial War Museum (London)
Date:	25/07/09 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: There is such alot here for everyone - tailor your visit accordingly as most of its Free

Disadvantages: Erudite and lack of map makes you unsure where you've been / not been

The Imperial War Museum has 5 branches, 3 of which are in London, we visited the branch known as Imperial War Museum London, located on Lambeth Road.

The museum was easy to get to, we walked from the London Eye which took about 15 - 20 minutes at a 6 year olds pace. The nearest tube station is Elephant and Castle or Lambeth North, both a short walk away.

The Museum is housed in an old hospital built in 1815 which is set back from the road and is accessed through well maintained gardens. There are two naval guns outside the building.

The museum is free to get in although there may be a charge for some special exhibitions so it is worth checking online prior to visiting, the special exhibition when we went was Horrible Histories and Terrible Trenches was on when we went and cost £4.95 for adults and £2.50 for children - but if your children are not really into this / reading then stick to the free bits. We also paid for a guide book. There are 6 floors of exhibits and it can be hard to know where you have and haven't been as there is no map and indeed we struggled to find where the entrance to the childrens war exhibition was. To do it all in one visit may be a bit much as it is very erudite but with it being free to get in means you could do a couple of the exhibits and leave the rest for another time.

Just through the door is the Large Exhibit Gallery, which is an impressive central space full of military weapons and vehicles, including artillery guns, tanks, aircraft and a mock submarine which can be explored.

On our visit we did the Children's War exhibit and The World War 2 exhibit. The Children's War exhibit looks at the Second World War through the eyes of British Children. It tells the stories of the children evacuated from the cities who were separated from family and friends and those children who stayed and lived with the horrors of the Blitz. The stories are told through the letters, books, toys and other mementoes which illustrate the lives lived by the children. There is a life-sized 1940's house to walk through giving an insight into what it was like back then and the stark contrast to our own mod cons. There is also a prefabricated house introduced after the war to solve the housing crisis which can only be viewed through the windows. This exhibition was very good and informative and it was easy to personalise the events to a 6 year old.

The World War 2 exhibit was also very good, there were lots of displays of uniforms and artefacts from the war split into the various sections, i.e. Home Front, The War At Sea, Mediterranean and Middle East etc. This again was very erudite and not as interesting to a 6 year old as the Childrens War Exhibit was but it was very informative.

I would recommend this as a good place to go on a visit to London, it was interesting and informative and has something to appeal to everyone. We plan to visit again and do some of the other exhibits the next time we go to London. There is a museum shop which has a large selection of military books and other usual souvenirs that you would expect equally priced with souvenirs from elsewhere.

Summary: Free apart from special exhibitions - more than one visit required