Press Releases

Professor Margaret MacMillan will explore the impact of conflict on society as part of the IWM Institute’s first in-person Annual Lecture.

Imperial War Museums' exhibition to display largest collection of Spitfires under one roof.

Iconic poppy sculptures make permanent homecoming to IWM North this Remembrance.

Unseen objects, untold stories and unheard voices: Imperial War Museums’ ground-breaking new Second World War and The Holocaust Galleries open.

New portraits of Holocaust survivors by leading contemporary photographers displayed at IWM London.

Saved for the Nation: HMS Belfast celebrates 50 years since its arrival on the River Thames.

Imperial War Museums serve up highballs with a dash of history in new Churchill’s Cocktails recipe book.

Restored, refreshed and reopening: HMS Belfast will welcome visitors back on board from 8 July 2021 with enhanced exhibition spaces and new experiences.

Imperial War Museums harnesses the legacy of 14-18 NOW, making £2 million available to artists and cultural organisations for new art commissions in 2021.

Imperial War Museums (IWM) marks 20 years since the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States and explore its complex global legacy.

Aid Workers: Ethics Under Fire, extended until 24 September 2021 at IWM North, highlights the practical, emotional and ethical challenges faced by aid workers on the front lines of conflict zones. 

Forming part of its 2020-2021 programme, IWM has commissioned a new site-specific artwork by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei. History of Bombs is on display at IWM London until 5 September 2021.

IWM reveals its upcoming programme for 2021, including a rich and varied series of exhibitions, events and landmark new openings across all five of IWM’s branches.

Forming part of IWM’s Refugees season, Refugee Nights is a virtual festival created by the IWM Institute, marking its launch in November 2020. Over three nights, the festival will explore refugees’ stories throughout history through talks, eyewitness accounts, music and food, celebrating refugees’ rich and important cultural contributions to UK public life.

Recently digitised films from Imperial War Museums will air nationally for the first time this October, as Talking Pictures TV begins showing selections from the museum’s vast film archive.

80 years on from the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, a new publication from IWM will collate incredible first-person recollections and seldom-seen images to create a comprehensive insight into the British prisoner of war experience in Europe between 1939 and 1945.

IWM is currently in the second phase of Transforming IWM London, a £30.5 million project which will see IWM London become the first museum in the world to physically and intellectually present the Holocaust narrative within the context of the Second World War. 

A new artwork by artist and political cartoonist Darren Cullen has been acquired by IWM in a collecting effort inspired by the exhibition Yemen: Inside a Crisis, currently on display at IWM North until 26 January 2020. 

IWM’s Refugees season will invite visitors to explore refugee experiences throughout history and the ongoing issues faced by those affected through two major exhibitions, a series of events and a new site-specific art commission at IWM London from world-renowned artist Ai Weiwei.

Christmas in Berlin (1991) and Die Mauer (1991), painted by renowned artist Jock McFadyen, will be going on permanent display at IWM North. This is the first time in over a decade that the paintings have been on public display.

IWM has taken innovative steps to preserve the original carpet and its secrets in the prime minister’s bedroom study in the former Cabinet War Rooms.

IWM has acquired unseen footage and images showing life in Berlin in the 1960s, just as the city was being divided by the Berlin Wall.

IWM will display the first piece of the wreckage of the USS Arizona to leave the United States in new Second World War Galleries, opening in 2021 at IWM London.

Families can discover the science behind keeping HMS Belfast shipshape, learn how to build the perfect cockpit at IWM Duxford, and speak to eyewitnesses to conflict at IWM North and IWM London.

Refugees: Forced to Flee (2 April - 29 November), a major new exhibition at IWM London, will explore how countless lives have been affected by conflict, from the First World War to the present day.

IWM reveals designs, narrative and collections’ highlights for its ground-breaking new Second World War and The Holocaust Galleries, opening at IWM London in 2021.

To mark the UK release of Sir Sam Mendes’ Golden Globe winning and BAFTA nominated First World War epic 1917, IWM releases rarely seen documents, images and personal stories from its First World War collections.

The birth certificate of Eva Clarke, one of just three babies born in Mauthausen concentration camp who survived past liberation, will be going on display for the very first time in IWM London’s brand new Holocaust Galleries, opening in 2021.

IWM will share Second World War voices from its unique sound archive on an unprecedented scale, broadcasting them in locations across the UK such as schools, universities, supermarkets, historic landmarks, and transport hubs.

In spite of recent terrorist activity at music venues in Europe since 2015, an interactive poll of 11,600 responses at IWM has revealed that almost half of respondents would attend a concert even if they knew it would be dangerous.

The Changing Places toilet is a safe and accessible space for visitors who are unable to use standard toilets.

To provide visitors with a unique insight into refugee experiences, IWM will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) as part of a new interactive installation.

Created in partnership with CNN, Life in a Camp will utilise the international news network’s pioneering panoramic video newsgathering techniques to deepen visitors’ understanding of the lives of contemporary refugees.

This summer, IWM Duxford will grant visitors access to newly transformed and previously unseen historic Second World War rooms to retell the story of the Battle of Britain.

A Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka Model 11, a Japanese single seat suicide attack (Kamikaze) aircraft, has gone on display at IWM London for the very first time. This is the first major change to IWM London’s Atrium since its opening in 2014.

Drawing on IWM's rich art collection and archives, Wartime London in Paintings brings lesser-known artists to light alongside household names like Henry Moore.

From spies to submarines and life on the Home Front, IWM will bring history into the homes of families across the world as part of its brand-new digital programme, sharing unique and personal stories from our extraordinary collections.

IWM is asking households to take a moment on Bank Holiday Friday 8 May, the 75th anniversary of VE Day, to play the four-minute soundscape Voices of War on IWM’s website.