The press and media, including Centenary News, are being invited today to see the £40 million pound refurbishment at London’s Imperial War Museum (IWM).
The new areas, open to the public from 19th July 2014, will include new, permanent First World War Galleries.
The galleries will have over 1,300 objects on display, many of which have never been seen before. They range from weapons, uniforms and equipment to diaries and letters, keepsakes and trinkets, photographs, film and art.
The IWM today said that the new First World War galleries will allow visitors “to discover the story of the war through the eyes of people in Britain and its empire, both on the home front and the fighting fronts. They will see how the war started, why it continued, how the Allies won and its global impact”.
Also opening on the 19th will be ‘Truth and Memory: British Art of the First World War’ – which IWM describe as “the largest retrospective of British First World War art for almost 100 years featuring over 110 paintings, sculptures and drawings from IWM’s collections”.
Excerpt from the press release, issued by the IWM this morning:
“IWM London’s atrium has been transformed. The new space designed by Foster + Partners, includes terraced galleries rising up either side of a central atrium, filled with newly curated displays telling the story of conflict in Britain and the former empire chronologically from 1914 to the present day.
There will be over 400 objects from IWM’s rich collections on display in the new atrium – over 60 of which have never been seen before –from aircraft and tanks, letters and personal mementos, through to film and artworks.
Diane Lees, Director-General of IWM says: ‘Since the Imperial War Museum was founded nearly 100 years ago we have been collecting ordinary and extraordinary objects to record and remember the role of conflict and its effect on people’s lives. Every object in our collection, large and small, tells a personal story and through these new and creative displays we will showcase the continuing work of the museum to collect, preserve and display people’s experiences’”.