Description
The Churchill War Rooms are the secret bunker beneath Whitehall from which Britain's government ran the Second World War, now a museum of the Imperial War Museum: low corridors, maps still pinned to the walls and the rooms where Winston Churchill and his generals met under the bombs.
Two museums share the site, a few steps from Parliament Square and St James's Park: the Cabinet War Rooms, kept much as they were left in 1945, and the Churchill Museum, devoted to the man's whole life.
The Cabinet Room is where the War Cabinet met 115 times, sometimes into the small hours, with two sentries at the door. In May 1940 the new prime minister looked around it and said: "This is the room from which I will direct the war."
The Map Room was manned around the clock by officers of the navy, army and air force, who drew up a daily intelligence summary for the King and the prime minister. On 16 August 1945, the day after Japan surrendered, they simply switched off the lights and left. The maps are still on the walls.
Also preserved are the Transatlantic Telephone Room, where Churchill could speak securely with Roosevelt in Washington over a scrambled line, and his office-bedroom, from which he made four wartime radio broadcasts.
The Churchill Museum, opened in 2005, tells his life from childhood to his death in 1965. Its centerpiece is a 15-meter interactive table full of documents from his archives.
Britain had never built a bunker like this. Work began in 1938 in the basement of a government building that now houses the Treasury, below the level of the Thames, with flood doors and pumps. It became operational on 27 August 1939, a week before war was declared.
During the Blitz a slab of concrete up to 1.5 meters thick was laid on top. Churchill rarely slept underground, though. Staff slept in "the Dock", a sub-basement with low ceilings, rattling ventilation, mice and chemical toilets. One secretary called it "revolting".
After the war only a few small groups could visit, by appointment. Margaret Thatcher, an admirer of Churchill, opened the rooms to the public in 1984, with members of his family and former staff at the ceremony.
Two museums share the site, a few steps from Parliament Square and St James's Park: the Cabinet War Rooms, kept much as they were left in 1945, and the Churchill Museum, devoted to the man's whole life.
The Cabinet Room is where the War Cabinet met 115 times, sometimes into the small hours, with two sentries at the door. In May 1940 the new prime minister looked around it and said: "This is the room from which I will direct the war."
The Map Room was manned around the clock by officers of the navy, army and air force, who drew up a daily intelligence summary for the King and the prime minister. On 16 August 1945, the day after Japan surrendered, they simply switched off the lights and left. The maps are still on the walls.
Also preserved are the Transatlantic Telephone Room, where Churchill could speak securely with Roosevelt in Washington over a scrambled line, and his office-bedroom, from which he made four wartime radio broadcasts.
The Churchill Museum, opened in 2005, tells his life from childhood to his death in 1965. Its centerpiece is a 15-meter interactive table full of documents from his archives.
Britain had never built a bunker like this. Work began in 1938 in the basement of a government building that now houses the Treasury, below the level of the Thames, with flood doors and pumps. It became operational on 27 August 1939, a week before war was declared.
During the Blitz a slab of concrete up to 1.5 meters thick was laid on top. Churchill rarely slept underground, though. Staff slept in "the Dock", a sub-basement with low ceilings, rattling ventilation, mice and chemical toilets. One secretary called it "revolting".
After the war only a few small groups could visit, by appointment. Margaret Thatcher, an admirer of Churchill, opened the rooms to the public in 1984, with members of his family and former staff at the ceremony.