England Guide
The Northwest
Imperial War Museum North
Opening time: March– Oct daily 10am–6pm, Nov– Feb daily 10am–5pm
Price: Free
Address: Salford Quays (Metrolink tram to Harbour City)
Website: north.iwm.org.uk
Built to a startling, award-winning design by Daniel Libeskind, the Imperial War Museum North raises a giant aluminium-clad fin into the air beside the Manchester Ship Canal. The interior is just as striking, its angular lines serving as a dramatic backdrop to the displays, which kick off with the Big Picture, when the walls of the main hall are transformed into giant screens to show regularly rotated, fifteen-minute, surround-sound films. In addition, there are all sorts of themed displays in six separate exhibition areas – the "Silos" – focusing on everything from women's work in the two world wars to war reporting and the build-up to the Iraq conflict of 2003. It's an ambitious and carefully conceived museum with a mixture of the personal and the general that is nothing less than superb.