Military & War
Military museums and war memorials document armed conflict through artefacts and personal testimonies — informative and deeply affecting.
19 museums in this category
Visiting tip
Exhibitions on recent conflict can be intense. Use quiet reflection spaces when offered.
Leading institutions
All military & war
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Anne Frank House
Otto Frank, the only member of the Frank family to survive the Holocaust, opened the house as a museum in 1960. The original Secret Annex remains preserved behind the famous bookcase entrance.
Oświęcim, Poland
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum was established in 1947 on the site of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp complex, located in occupied Poland near the town of Oświęcim (Auschwitz in German). The complex — comprising Auschwitz I and the larger Auschwitz II-Birkenau — was the site of the murder of at least 1.1 million people between 1940 and 1945, the majority of them Jewish. It is the largest site of mass murder in human history.
FreeLondon, United Kingdom
Churchill War Rooms
The Churchill War Rooms are the underground bunker beneath Whitehall where Winston Churchill and his war cabinet directed Britain's fight against Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945. Preserved exactly as they were abandoned on 16 August 1945, the complex offers an unparalleled immersion in the day-to-day machinery of wartime government.
Hiroshima, Japan
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Designed by Kenzo Tange and opened in 1955, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum sits within Peace Memorial Park alongside the Cenotaph and the preserved Atomic Bomb Dome — a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
London, United Kingdom
Imperial War Museum
The Imperial War Museum London tells the story of conflict involving Britain and the Commonwealth from the First World War to the present day. Founded in 1917 while the Great War still raged, it was established to record the experiences of those who lived, fought, and died in the conflict.
FreeBoston, United States
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924) spent thirty years assembling one of the finest private art collections in America, then built a Venetian Gothic palace in Boston to house it exactly as she wanted it to be seen. The museum opened in 1903 and has changed almost nothing since Gardner's death — her will stipulated that no object could be moved or sold, on pain of selling the entire collection to Harvard and dispersing it.
FreeBerlin, Germany
Jewish Museum Berlin
The Jewish Museum Berlin (Jüdisches Museum Berlin) opened in 2001 in Daniel Libeskind's groundbreaking deconstructivist building — the architect's first major public commission, and one of the most emotionally charged buildings in the world. The zinc-clad form is shaped around three axes representing exile, the Holocaust, and continuity, with deliberate disorientation built into the architecture.
Lima, Peru
Larco Museum
The Museo Larco in Lima was founded in 1926 by Rafael Larco Hoyle in a restored 18th-century viceregal mansion in the Pueblo Libre district. The museum holds one of the world's greatest collections of pre-Columbian art — over 45,000 pieces spanning 5,000 years of ancient Peruvian civilisation, from the Chavín culture through the Moche, Wari, Chimú, and Inca empires.
Warsaw, Poland
National Museum in Warsaw
The National Museum in Warsaw (Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie) was founded in 1862 and is Poland's largest museum. The current building — a monumental structure in the Marszałkowska district — was built in the 1920s and 30s and survived the destruction of Warsaw in World War II largely intact. The collections span six millennia of art and material culture from Egypt, Greece, and Rome through medieval Europe to the present.
FreeAswan, Egypt
Nubian Museum
Designed by Egyptian architect Mahmoud El-Hakim, the Nubian Museum in Aswan was built as part of the UNESCO campaign that also saved the temples of Abu Simbel from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. It opened in 1997 and won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
Cape Town, South Africa
Robben Island Museum
Robben Island — 'Seal Island' in Dutch — lies 7 km off the coast of Cape Town in Table Bay. For over 400 years it served as a prison, leper colony, and military base. From 1961 to 1991 it held political prisoners of the apartheid regime, including Nelson Mandela, who spent 18 of his 27 imprisoned years here.
Washington D.C., United States
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Opened in 1964, the National Museum of American History holds some of the most iconic objects in the United States — from the flag that inspired the national anthem to pop culture artefacts, military history, and Julia Child's kitchen. It is a museum of things rather than fine art, and that makes it one of the most immediate and engaging museums in the country.
FreeLiverpool, United Kingdom
Tate Liverpool
Tate Liverpool opened in 1988 inside the Grade I-listed Albert Dock warehouses, designed by Jesse Hartley in 1846. James Stirling led the conversion, marking the first Tate gallery outside London.
FreeLos Angeles, United States
The Broad
A contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, housing the Eli and Edythe Broad collection — Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room, Basquiat, Koons, and post-war American art.
FreeTokyo, Japan
Tokyo National Museum
The Tokyo National Museum is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is the oldest national museum in Japan, the largest art museum in Japan, and one of the largest art museums in the world.
Washington D.C., United States
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Opened in 1993, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America's national institution for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history. It sits steps from the National Mall and draws over 1.5 million visitors a year — among the most visited memorial museums in the world.
FreeStockholm, Sweden
Vasa Museum
The Vasa is the best-preserved 17th-century ship in the world. Built for King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, the warship sank just 1,300 metres into her maiden voyage in August 1628, in Stockholm harbour, and remained on the seabed for 333 years. The vessel was raised in 1961 and transferred to the Vasa Museum, which opened in its current purpose-built facility in 1990.
Seoul, South Korea
War Memorial of Korea
The War Memorial of Korea opened in 1994 on the former site of army headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul. It is the country's largest military history museum, documenting conflicts from ancient Korea through the Korean War and beyond.
FreeJerusalem, Israel
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem was established by the Israeli parliament (Knesset) in 1953 as the official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Its name — 'a memorial and a name' — comes from the Book of Isaiah. The campus on the western slope of Mount Herzl in Jerusalem covers nearly 18 hectares and includes the Holocaust History Museum, the Children's Memorial, the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations, and the Valley of the Communities.
FreeCommon questions
What is a military & war?
Military museums and war memorials document armed conflict through artefacts and personal testimonies — informative and deeply affecting.
Which military & war should I visit first?
Exhibitions on recent conflict can be intense. Use quiet reflection spaces when offered. Our guides cover 19 military & war on World Museum Guide.
How many military & war are in the directory?
World Museum Guide lists 19 military & war across 48 countries — with admission, hours, masterworks, and visit routes.