ABSTRACT
If war is represented in a museum and if the museum intends to visualize war, an immediate representational challenge occurs. All military history museums aim to generate authenticity, but the form of authenticity varies between reconstructive authenticity, claiming that the past can somehow accurately be represented through historical reconstruction, and structural, simulated authenticities that are created as poietic spaces. In recent years, museums have developed considerably more sophisticated techniques of visualizing the war and emotionalizing and possibly manipulating the museum visitor. The Imperial War Museum London, which reopened after extensive renovations in July 2014, uses similar didactic multi-media installations to steer the emotions of the visitor. The visualization of war as the reconstruction of an allegedly correct past might help the visitor to remember specific historical facts or exemplary scenes, which makes it easier to understand the different elements of war.
