Imperial War Museum

Lonely Planet review

Despite the threatening pair of 15-inch naval guns outside the front entrance to what was once Bethlehem Royal Hospital, commonly known as Bedlam, this is for the most part a very sombre, thoughtful museum. Most of its exhibits are given over to exploring the human and social cost of conflict.

Although the museum's focus is officially on military action involving British or Commonwealth troops during the 20th century, it gives 'war' a wide interpretation. So it not only has serious discussion of the two world wars, Korea and Vietnam, but also covers the Cold War, 'secret' warfare (ie spying) and even the war on apartheid in South Africa.

The core of the six-floor museum is a chronological exhibition on the two world wars on the lower ground floor. In the Trench Experience you walk through the grim day-to-day reality of life on the Somme front line in WWI, and in the more hair-raising Blitz Experience you cower inside a mock bomb shelter during a WWII air raid and then emerge through ravaged East End streets.

On the upper floors you find the two most outstanding - and moving - sections: the extensive Holocaust Exhibition on the 3rd floor, and a stark gallery called Crimes against Humanity devoted to genocide in Cambodia, Yugoslavia and Rwanda (neither sections recommended for under 15s). The 2nd floor features war paintings by the likes of Stanley Spencer and John Singer Sargent.

Audioguides to the permanent collection cost adult/concession £4 / £3 . Temporary exhibits, which charge an admission fee, cover such topics as war reporting, camouflage and modern warfare and - our favourite - the role of animals in conflicts from WWI to the present day.