Imperial War Museum’s war medal exhibition closing to make way for post-WWII galleries

The Imperial War Museum London (IWM) is permanently closing its war medal exhibition as it prepares to develop new galleries exploring post-second world war conflict.

The Lord Ashcroft Gallery was created in 2010 with a £5m donation from Michael Ashcroft, the former peer and deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, who made his collection of around 200 Victoria Crosses available to the museum on a 15-year loan.

The gallery houses the Extraordinary Heroes exhibition displaying Ashcroft’s collection, which ranges from the Crimean to the Falklands wars, alongside 48 Victoria Crosses and 31 George Crosses already held by the museum. It is due to close on 1 June.

Ashcroft told The Telegraph this week that he had been intending to renew the loan with a view to bequeathing the collection to IWM after his death. The newspaper reported that this is now unlikely to happen.

Ashcroft has expressed sadness over the museum's decision. In a post on X, he said: “Sad for me. I’ve got this [announcement] from the Imperial War Museums closing the Lord Ashcroft Gallery displaying around 200 Victoria Crosses representing the finest deeds of servicemen in UK’s history. Sadly into storage for the time being and my £5m cost to open lost.”

IWM said the closure was necessary to prepare for new gallery spaces on upper floors of the museum, which will share stories of conflict post-world war two, including the cold war, the Falklands war and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The museum said it would continue to display Victoria Crosses and George Crosses across all its UK branches, integrated within galleries that give context to the conflicts in which the medals were awarded.

In a statement, IWM said: “Like all museums, we regularly update our galleries to ensure we can share as much of the 33 million items in our collection as possible with the public. 

“We are very proud to have displayed the Lord Ashcroft Medal Collection at IWM London since 2010, made possible thanks to a generous 15-year loan by Lord Ashcroft. 

“IWM London has proudly displayed Victoria Crosses and George Crosses since 1968, and we remain committed to sharing these stories of the greatest acts of bravery and sacrifice in defence of our nation with the public.

“We plan for Victoria Crosses and George Crosses medals from IWM's collection to continue to be displayed across our UK branches, integrated within galleries that tell the full story of the conflicts in which these acts of bravery occurred.”

The institution said post-second world war conflict was “less well represented” in its galleries, following major redevelopments of its first and second world war galleries and Holocaust exhibition.

IWM said: “Over the past 10 years at IWM London, we have opened new galleries exploring the first and second world wars, the Holocaust, and our art, film and photography collection. Our displays exploring the past 80 years of post-second world war conflict, including the cold war, Falklands war and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, are less well represented.

“Our aim is to address this by creating new gallery spaces on upper floors at IWM London, which will allow us to share more stories of conflicts that are within many of our visitors’ living memory.

“To prepare for the development of these new spaces, the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at IWM London will close permanently from 1 June 2025. We are enormously grateful to Lord Ashcroft and the other private lenders who have enabled us to display these important medals since the gallery opened.”