The Museum

The Museum The D-Day Museum was established in 1984 to tell the story of Operation Overlord from its origins in the dark days of 1940 to victory in Normandy in 1944.

The Museum's centrepiece is the Overlord Embroidery. Inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, it is a moving tribute to the efforts and sacrifices of the Allies in defeating Nazi Germany. The scenes depicted in the Embroidery's 34 panels are vividly described in a multi-language soundguide.

Within the Embroidery gallery is the audio-visual theatre, where archive film footage, music, wartime images and the words of those who lived through it combine to evoke the atmosphere of World War II.

Then in the Museum's displays visitors experience the sights and sounds of Britain at War - the air raid warden's living room in the Blitz, the factory resounding to the strains of 'Music while you work', and troops preparing for D-Day in their forest camp.

The climax of the displays is a dawn to dusk reconstruction of the Allied landings by sea and air on D-Day itself - World War II's 'longest day'.

The last section of the exhibition, 'Portsmouth Memories', features the recorded reminiscences of local men, women and children who experienced life on the Home Front or took part in D-Day.

The final image in the exhibition - a photograph of the rows of gravestones in the war cemetery at Ranville in Normandy - is a reminder of the price of victory, which must never be forgotten.

Click here to find out more about the Portsmouth area's involvement in D-Day.