Imperial War Museum North

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Imperial War Museum North

Lancashire

Type: War museum
Location
Grid reference: SJ80259704
Location: 53°28’11"N, 2°17’56"W
Town: Stretford
Address: The Quays
History
Built 2000
By: Daniel Libeskind
War museum
Deconstructivist
Information
Website: iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-north

Imperial War Museum North is a museum in Stretford in Lancashire, opposite the Salford Quays. One of five branches of the Imperial War Museum, it explores the impact of modern conflicts on people and society. It is the first branch of the Imperial War Museum to be located so far north.

The museum occupies a site overlooking the Manchester Ship Canal on Trafford Wharf Road,[1] Trafford Park, an area which during Second World War was a key industrial centre and consequently heavily bombed during the Manchester Blitz in 1940.[2] The area is now home to the Lowry cultural centre and the MediaCityUK development, which stand opposite the museum at Salford Quays.

The museum building was designed by architect Daniel Libeskind and opened in July 2002, receiving 470,000 visitors in its first year of opening. It was recognised with awards or prize nominations for its architecture and is a prime example of Deconstructivist architecture. The museum features a permanent exhibition of chronological and thematic displays, supported by hourly audiovisual presentations which are projected throughout the gallery space. The museum also hosts a programme of temporary exhibitions in a separate gallery. Since opening, the museum has operated a successful volunteer programme.

Planning and construction

The entrance

During the 1990s, the Imperial War Museum sought to open a branch in north of London. Seventy-one sites were offered for consideration by 36 local councils.[3] One such council was that of Hartlepool, in County Durham, for whom a new museum building was designed by architect Sir Norman Foster for a site on Hartlepool's dockside.[4] In 1992 the Teesside Development Corporation offered the museum, on behalf of Hartlepool council, a total of £14.4 million towards construction and running costs.[5] However, the National Audit Office later reported that the corporation's offer breached government rules and negotiations were abandoned.[5][6]

From the museum's air shard viewing platform; The Lowry across the Manchester Ship Canal

In January 1999 the project began to construct the new museum in the Trafford Park area of Stretford, Lancashire.[3][7] Trafford Park has strong associations with the Second World War on the British home front; factories in the area produced Avro Lancaster heavy bombers, and Rolls-Royce Merlin aero engines used by a number of Royal Air Force combat aircraft.[8] By 1945 the area employed 75,000 people.[9] The area was consequently heavily bombed, particularly during the Manchester Blitz, when 684 people were killed in raids over two nights in December 1940.[10]

Architecture

The entrance, at the base of the air shard tower

An architectural competition for the new museum was held in 1997, with the winning design being that of Berlin-based architect Daniel Libeskind. It was his first building in the United Kingdom.[1] At the museum's opening, Libeskind said that he sought to "create a building ... which emotionally moved the soul of the visitor toward a sometimes unexpected realization"'.[11] Libeskind envisaged a 'constellation composed of three interlocking shards' [12] with each shard being a remnant of an imagined globe shattered by conflict. These shards in turn represented air, earth and water, and each formed a functionally distinct part of the museum. The 55 m high air shard, provides the museum's entranceway and a viewing balcony (now closed to the public) above the Manchester Ship Canal with views of the Manchester skyline. The construction of the tower leaves viewers exposed to the elements and one reviewer considered that it reflected "the aerial perspective of modern warfare and the precariousness of the life below".[3] The earth shard houses the museum's exhibition spaces, while the water shard accommodates a cafe with views of the canal.

Originally budgeted at £40 million, the museum was eventually completed for £28.5 million after anticipated funding was not forthcoming. The reduction in budget forced a number of changes; the substitution of metal for concrete in the construction of the shards, the removal of a planned auditorium, and a change of exhibition content. The site's external landscaping also had to be reduced; in 2009, following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions, Berlin-based company Topotek 1 were appointed to complete this landscaping.[13] Despite these economies, the fundamental "shattered globe" concept remained intact.[14] Building began on 5 January 2000 and was topped out in late September that year.[14] Exhibition fitting started in November 2001,[11] and the museum opened to the public on 5 July 2002, shortly before the 2002 Commonwealth Games which were hosted in Manchester that year.

Exhibitions

Permanent exhibitions are housed in the museum's first-floor main gallery space within the earth shard. These consist of a chronological display which runs around the gallery's 650-foot perimeter and six thematic displays in "silos" within the space. As part of the earth shard, the 3,500 m2 floor of the gallery is curved, gradually dropping away like the curvature of the Earth from a nominal "North Pole" near the gallery's entrance.[15] Within this hall, described as cavernous and dramatic,[16] a number of large artefacts are displayed; they include a Russian T-34 tank, a United States Marine Corps AV-8A Harrier jet and a QF 13-pounder gun|13-pounder field gun which fired the British Army's first shot of First World War. Around the gallery, a number of vertical mechanical conveyors called "timestacks" display selections of smaller artefacts, some of which can be handled by visitors.[17][18]

  • Objects in the IWM north collection
  • AV-8A Harrier
    AV-8A Harrier
  • A Soviet T-34 tank
    A Soviet T-34 tank
  • Berlin Wall searchlight
    Berlin Wall searchlight
  • Mk XVII contact sea mine
    Mk XVII contact sea mine
  • QF 13-pounder field gun
    QF 13-pounder field gun
  • Rolls Royce Olympus 101 jet engine
    Rolls Royce Olympus 101 jet engine
  • WE 177 British nuclear bomb
    WE 177 British nuclear bomb
  • Wreckage from the September 11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center
    Wreckage from the September 11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center

The museum also displays artworks by official war artists who were commissioned to create a visual record of Britain during the world wars, among them Building Flying-Boats by Flora Lion; The 'L' Press. Forging the Jacket of an 18-inch Gun by Anna Airy; and Going to Work by L. S. Lowry (1943).[19]

  • War artists displayed at IWM north
  • The 'L' Press. Forging the Jacket of an 18-inch Gun by Anna Airy (1918)
    The 'L' Press. Forging the Jacket of an 18-inch Gun by Anna Airy (1918)
  • Building Flying-Boats by Flora Lion (1919)
    Building Flying-Boats by Flora Lion (1919)
  • Going to Work by L. S. Lowry (1943)
    Going to Work by L. S. Lowry (1943)

Outside the museum building, an ex-Iraqi Ground Forces T-55 tank was put on display at the main entrance in August 2008. This vehicle was captured by the Royal Engineers during the opening stages of the Iraq War in 2003.[20] The spot had previously been occupied by an Iraqi ZSU-23-4 Shilka anti-aircraft gun. Captured by the Royal Artillery after the 1991 Gulf War, it was moved from Imperial War Museum Duxford and displayed to mark the museum's fifth anniversary in July 2007.[21]

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Imperial War Museum North)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hartwell, Clare (2002). Manchester (Pevsner Architectural Guide). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 342. ISBN 978-0-300-09666-8. 
  2. ↑ Gray, Edward (2000). Salford Quays. The Story of Manchester Docks. Manchester: Memories Publications. p. 99. ISBN 1-899181-88-1. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Glancey, Jonathan (22 April 2002) The Guardian War and peace and quiet. Retrieved 14 April 2010
  4. ↑ Glancey, Jonathan (27 July 1994) The Independent Architecture: Renaissance in the North. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 National Audit Office (27 February 2002) The Operation and wind up of Teesside Development Corporation Template:Webarchive (London: The Stationery Office) p.26. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
  6. ↑ Hartlepool Mail (27 February 2002) (findarticles.com) TDC cost taxpayers £34m. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
  7. ↑ PR Newswire (Press Release) (25 January 1999) Smith hails 'wonderful' War Museum project Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
  8. ↑ Nicholls, Robert (1996), Trafford Park: The First Hundred Years, Chichester: Phillimore & Co Ltd, ISBN 1-86077-013-4  pp. 103–104
  9. ↑ Nevell, Michael (1997), The Archaeology of Trafford, Manchester: Trafford Metropolitan Borough with University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, ISBN 1-870695-25-9  pp. 130–133
  10. ↑ Imperial War Museum North (2009) Manchester Blitz. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Forrester, Jim (2004) Manchester Region History Review Vol. 17 No. 1 War & Conflict: New Perspectives in the North Template:Webarchive. (Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University). Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  12. ↑ Libeskind, Daniel; Studio Daniel Libeskind Imperial War Museum North. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  13. ↑ George, Sophie (12 June 2009) Architects' Journal First Look: Topotek 1 adds to Libeskind's Imperial War Museum North. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Herbert, Ian (9 October 2000)The Independent The museum that was bowed – but not broken – by the lottery. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  15. ↑ Architects' Journal (14 August 2003) Case study: A striking, sculptural landmark building on the waterfront.... Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  16. ↑ Hughes, Matthew (Winter 2002) Institute of Historical Research: History in Focus The Imperial War Museum (North): The Triumph of Style over Substance?. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  17. ↑ Martin, David 'Full metal jacket: Imperial War Museum North' Museum Practice No. 21, December 2002, pp. 24–29
  18. ↑ Imperial War Museum North (2009) IWM North FloorplanTemplate:Dead link. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  19. ↑ "Lowry's 'Going to Work' returns to Manchester" (in en). 2021. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/lowrys-going-to-work-returns-to-manchester. 
  20. ↑ Fleming, Grace (26 August 2008) Manchester Evening News Iraq tank rolls into museum. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
  21. ↑ Rusby, Jake (5 July 2007) Manchester Evening News Museum's birthday 'invasion'. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
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