A pair of 15-inch naval guns, taken from the battleships HMS Ramillies and HMS Resolution, guard the entrance to Imperial War Museum London on Lambeth Road. Behind them stands a domed building that was once the Bethlem Royal Hospital, the asylum known as Bedlam. The museum was founded in 1917, while the First World War was still being fought, and has occupied this building since 1936.
The collections trace the experience of war for Britain and the Commonwealth from 1914 to the present. Visitors hear from soldiers and from the civilians caught up in conflict. A tall atrium displays aircraft, a V-2 rocket and other large objects. The First World War Galleries combine weapons, uniforms and personal letters, and the Holocaust Galleries document Nazi persecution in sober detail. The museum also holds a major collection of war art, including John Singer Sargent's monumental painting Gassed.
The material is often harrowing. Seeing the main galleries properly takes several hours.
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