Lord Ashcroft Gallery
The Lord Ashcroft Gallery is situated at Imperial War Museums, London. It houses the Extraordinary Heroes exhibition containing Lord Ashcroft’s unrivalled collection of Victoria Crosses (VCs), the largest in the world.
Many of the awards, which range from the Crimean War (1854-6) to the Falklands War (1982), are on public display for the first time. Lord Ashcroft has amassed a collection of more than 180 VCs and several George Crosses (GCs) and they are displayed alongside some 48 VCs and 31 GCs already in the care of the museum.
The VC is Britain and the Commonwealth’s premier award for extreme gallantry in the face of the enemy, while the GC is Britain’s most prestigious civil decoration. Visitors to the gallery can discover the personal stories behind each medal in a state-of-the-art new space filled with interactive touch-screens, multimedia platforms and original interpretation.
The gallery was opened by HRH The Princess Royal in November 2010. It cost more than £5 million, which was entirely funded by Lord Ashcroft because he wanted his VC collection to be enjoyed by a much wider public. Admission to the gallery is free.
To mark the opening of the Lord Ashcroft Gallery, IWM commissioned significant new works for its collections. Among them is a portrait by Don McCullin, the acclaimed war photographer, of Private Johnson Beharry, who was awarded the VC in March 2005 for two outstanding acts of bravery in Iraq.
The VCs and GCs featured in the gallery are arranged using seven different human qualities – leadership, sacrifice, aggression, skill, initiative, endurance, and boldness – encouraging visitors to examine an individual’s reaction to the difficult decisions behind their feat of bravery.
The gallery aims to intrigue, inspire and amaze by re-telling forgotten stories of bravery that show how, when faced with extreme situations, some people can do the most extraordinary things.
* For more information on the Extraordinary Heroes exhibition at the Lord Ashcroft Gallery visit: www.iwm.org.uk/heroes