London - Imperial War Museum

The Imperial War Museum, covering the history of the two World Wars up to the Gulf War, was founded in 1920 and moved to its present premises in the Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, Lambeth, in 1936.

The building which houses the museum, formerly the original 'Bedlam', Bethlehem Royal Hospital (a lunatic asylum), has been revamped and adapted to include such features as an enormous glazed atrium. Two ship's guns stand at the entrance to the museum. External sites belonging to the museum are HMS Belfast, the Cabinet War Rooms and the aircraft museum at Duxford near Cambridge.

The hub of the museum is the large exhibition hall housing aircraft, tanks and artillery from the two World Wars. These include Field Marshal Montgomery's command tank, a Mustang fighter aircraft, a German one-man submarine and German V1 and V2 rockets. St Paul's may be seen through a giant periscope from the First World War. Visitors can have a close-up view of aircraft from the gallery encircling the hall. Paintings from the period of the two World Wars are displayed in the upper rooms.

The basement rooms house a chronological display of the First and Second World Wars containing weaponry, uniforms and medals.

Also in the basement, the Trench Experience recreates life in the trenches during the First World War, while the Blitz Experience gives a vivid impression of air-raid conditions in the London "Blitz" of the Second World War (not recommended for young children or those of a nervous disposition!).

To discover what it was like to fly on a secret mission with the RAF, Operation Jericho simulates a Mosquito fighter bomber's night raid over northern France during the Second World War.