Permanent
IWM North
Everyone
Free
Immerse yourself in the award-winning 360-degree cinematic Big Picture Show.
Using surround sound, projected digital moving images and photographs, the Big Picture Show brings a broad range of perspectives into poignant focus, reflecting not only on the immediate effects of war, but also on what happens when the guns stop firing.
Shows are projected every hour on the 27-foot-high walls of our Main Exhibition Space, each focusing on a different aspect of war.
Show Listings
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Remembrance
Daily 11am
A Big Picture Show exploring the different ways we remember those who have died in conflict, from the First World War to the Iraq War.
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Animals and War
Daily 12 noon
Follow Milo the mouse and his guide Winkie the pigeon, as they discover stories of brave animals who have helped the war effort from the First World War to the present day.
Learn about wartime animal heroes from Duffy the donkey, Rip the dog and K-Dog the dolphin in this new show created for Imperial War Museum North.
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© IWMUkraine: Our Ordinary Lives
Daily 1pm
Mass media coverage of the war in Ukraine has shocked the world. Spanning the period since the 2022 invasion, powerful real-life stories of young Ukrainians told through their own social media posts, capture the reality of what everyday life is like for young Ukrainians caught up in war.
Their stories are shared through images and footage as they try to find normality, living their ordinary lives through extraordinarily challenging times.
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IWMMightier Than War
Daily 2pm
Hear the powerful poetry of Tony Walsh alongside poignant imagery from our collections in a specially commissioned Big Picture Show.
Especially commissioned by IWM, acclaimed Mancunian poet Tony Walsh wrote and recorded a poem for our Big Picture Show. The new poem, Mightier Than War, explores the triumph of the human spirit in times of conflict through his unique and enthralling storytelling.
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Colourised footage artistic rendition 2018 – THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD by WingNut Films with Peter Jackson. Original black and white film © IWM.Life on the Line
Daily 3pm
Witness powerful footage from Academy Award winner Peter Jackson's critically acclaimed They Shall Not Grow Old, alongside original imagery, footage and sound from Imperial War Museum's extensive First World War collections.
Life on the Line: with footage from Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old is the newest Big Picture Show, an immersive surround sound and 360 degree, 27-foot tall, projection that brings personal experiences of conflict to life in our Main Exhibition Space.
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© IWMAl-Mutanabbi Street
Daily 4pm
Al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad is named after one of the great Arabic Poets.
On 5 March 2007, more than 30 people died when a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle bomb on Al-Mutanabbi Street. This Big Picture show is a creative response to that attack.
Written and narrated by Chris Thorpe, a playwright and Associate Artist at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.
What our visitors say
More Information
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Accessibility
Please be aware that when the Big Picture Show is on, the exhibition space will go dark and there will be loud noises and flashing images which some visitors may find unsettling.
