National Army Museum reopens in March 10 Feb 2017

The National Army Museum in Chelsea will re-open on 30th March following a three-year closure period, in which it has undergone a radical transformation. The £23.75m investment has included £11.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the Museum will now have five new galleries and a temporary exhibition space. 2,500 objects will be displayed over four floors. There is also a shop, café and a PlayBase for children aged 0 – 7. The first gallery, ‘Soldier’, uses personal accounts to follow the story of soldiers through history from signing up to training, daily life, crime and punishment, and coming home. Other galleries include ‘Army’, which looks at the Army as an institution, and ‘Battle’, which explores what it has been like to be involved in combat since the 1640s. Objects on display include journalist Kate Adie’s flak jacket and the taxidermied remains of Crimean Tom (a cat found during the Crimean War and taken back to Britain). Director Janice Murray said, “the thematic galleries provide a space to explore and discuss the Army and its relevance to society in ways that we sometimes would not imagine from fashion and films to flood defences and, of course, conflict.” HLF, NAM, M+H