Imperial War Museum North

A few more from my recent trip to Manchester :
One of five museums across the UK specifically recording and showcasing (their word) experiences of modern conflict, the Imperial War Museum North has a commanding site on the waterfront at Trafford Park in Greater Manchester. Opened in 2002, it was designed by Daniel Libeskind and is (apparently) a prime example of Deconstructivist architecture. It has three interlocking shards: an imagined globe shattered by conflict.

I only stayed inside for about an hour, so there was lots I didn't see, but I explored an exhibition called 'Lest We Forget', all about the First World War. It had many photographs and artefacts, some heartbreaking mementoes such as telegrams received by families whose menfolk were missing or killed in action, diaries kept by men on the front line, war poetry and paintings. There's also a huge gallery that holds a timeline of information about conflicts from WWI to the present day. It was all unbearably moving, not least seeing some twisted girders from New York's World Trade Centre. It doesn't glorify war but you could not help but reflect that things haven't got a lot better in the hundred years or so that was documented.