Merely to remind you that……..TIME FLIES © IWM (Art.IWM PST 3703)
Summer is just around the corner and it is now only three months until we partially re-open on 29 July. To mark the three month countdown here’s a sneak peak what’s on from July at IWM London…
This term IWM Young Reporters from local Archbishop Sumner School and Oasis Academy Johanna have been making exclusive behind-the-scenes podcasts about Transforming IWM London.
Sixty Year 5 students took on different roles including researchers, technical assistants, interviewers, roving reporters and presenters. They worked together with IWM learning officers to plan and present a series of six exciting podcasts and even recorded their own jingle!
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An early version of the proposed floorplan of IWM London’s transformed Atrium space with our notes included.
When it came to modelling which objects would be selected for our transformed Atrium and where they would be displayed, it soon became clear that neither glue or tape or tack would work.
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Concept for IWM Atrium © Foster + Partners
Our team’s job is to select and shape the displays for the new Atrium and what you see as you first step into IWM London.
The challenge is how to draw all the complexity of conflict – its overwhelming forces and extraordinary human experiences – into one relatively small space.
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The remains of Surrey Lodge, an apartment building destroyed by a V2 rocket on 4 January 1945. The photograph was apparently taken on the following day and graphically shows how a 5 storey building was reduced to rubble. Image courtesy of Lambeth Archives.
Barely 150 metres from IWM London today is the site of the most destructive explosion in Lambeth during the Second World War, which killed 43 people. Just before 8.30pm on the night of Thursday 4 January 1945 a huge explosion destroyed an apartment building, Surrey Lodge, on the corner of Kennington Road and Lambeth Road. The old Lambeth Baths and a chapel on the opposite side of Lambeth Road were also severely damaged. The blast also extensively damaged the northern and western sides of the Imperial War Museum as well as many surrounding buildings.
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IWM’s care and conservation team currently has 17 conservators working at our Duxford and London branches. Between us we have many decades of experience in the field of care and conservation working in the hangars, galleries and labs of IWM looking after a wide range of iconic exhibits such as the V2 rocket, a B-17 bomber, the Tamzine boat, a Wurzburg Radar; our huge art, photo and film collections down to small, everyday objects of conflict such as diaries, letters, uniform and firearms.
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‘Is that real?’ This is a question frequently asked of the large exhibits in IWM London’s atrium. The answer is of course yes. The real question here is why would our visitors question whether we were displaying real historical objects? The answer lies in their display.
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The German mural ‘Tiled Eagle’ which has been at the museum since 1919.
If you’ve visited IWM London in the past few weeks, you may have seen me around. I’ve been doing some conservation work to prepare many of the objects in the large exhibits gallery for their moves in the autumn. Some of the objects I’ve already worked on are the shells and guns including the French 75mm Field Gun.
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