IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM NORTH
Manchester Salford Quays
Great
Britain has certainly seen its measure of wars, both on the giving
and receiving end. And
they’re probably hoping not to really see
another soon, except maybe for Prince Harry, still itching to be a regular
guy at risk with his mates. Upon visiting war museums, one wonders whether
their purpose to warn against future wars or celebrate old ones. Well,
since England has had it is share of wars, it’s natural she would
have an abundance of war museums. The Imperial War Museum system in England
consists of five separate exhibit venues. Three are in London, including
the original Imperial War Museum near Waterloo, the HMS Belfast war
ship docked in the Thames River (see HMS Belfast) and the Churchill Cabinet War Rooms (see Churchill
War Rooms). Two others are outside London, one near Cambridge
(see Duxford
Air Museum), and the other in Manchester.
The Imperial War Museum
North just outside of England’s second
largest city is found in a building which gets as much attention as the
exhibits inside. Opened in 2002, the exhibit space was the first design
of Daniel Libeskind, known for his angular modernism to be built in the
British Isles. A sharp edged soaring spire of silver metal rises up like
either the tail of a giant warplane or the sail of a ship, depending
which century your mind wanders to. Built across the Manchester ship
channel from the Manchester United football stadium (see Trafford
Manchester United Museum) at the Salford Quays. The building itself is
hard to miss, while taking a shopping browse to the Lowry Outlet shopping
mall, or a cruise down the Manchester ship channel.
Once
inside the museum provides a bit of a maze through war times. The exhibits
at The Imperial War
Museum
North focus on the wars of the 20th
Century and has only a few large war machines on display, a Russian T34
tank, a Harriet Jet and the artillery cannon which fired the first British
shell in WWI. If you’re looking for big tanks, planes and guns,
they are at the Duxford Airfield museum near Cambridge (see Imperial
Air Museum Duxford) and the London branch of
the Imperial War Museums on Lambeth Road near Waterloo.
The
north museum presents the stories and themes of wartimes.
The main exhibition space boasts a 3D timeline of war conflicts from 1900 up to the Falklands with a movie “The Big Picture Show” projected 360 degrees around the space every hour. The museum is designed for a unique experience with themed “silos” presenting different aspects of war through photographs, uniforms, stories, diaries, letters and audio visual presentations. For a “hand-on” experience visitors can handle actual artifacts through a mechanical time stack system where a time or subject is chosen and the trays of objects automatically delivered to explore. Special exhibitions are presented on a rotating basis. For families and kids, the museum has 9 “Action Stations” with interactive games and demonstrations. An observation platform at the top of the spire allows an impressive view of Manchester and the shipping channels.
Visiting Imperial War Museum North
The Imperial
War Museum North is open daily and admission is free. The museum is
on Trafford Wharf road between the M60 and
A57 and
can
be reached by footbridge across the quays from the Lowry Mall and
nearest tram stop. © Bargain
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Imperial War Museums
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See Also:
MANCHESTER MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY
