The Imperial War Museum North is one of five branches of the Imperial War Museum and is also the first to be located outside South East England. This museum is located in an area that was attacked during the Blitz of the Second World War and once again by the Irish Republican Army in 1996.

The structure of the museum is an attraction in itself and was designed by Daniel Libeskind. The structure is based on the concept of a shattered globe that was reassembled and made whole again to depict the effect of war on the World. The main purpose of the museum is to showcase how war affected the lives of British and Commonwealth citizens since 1914.

The museum houses a variety of different exhibits within its walls, but its central attraction is the "Big Picture Show", a collection of projected images and sounds that play every hour. This event lasts for 15 minutes and involves 60 projectors on 20 screens each standing to about 5 metres in height. During the presentation, all other displays are blackened out or darkened.

"The Timeline" is essentially how the museum is laid out according to different time periods starting with "1900-1914: A New Century" and ending with "1990-Present: Into a New Century". "The Timeline" consists of the regular and rarely changing exhibits in the museum. "The Silos" on the other hand are large partially enclosed exhibitions built in the form of a silo that house art and other exhibits according to a theme. These themes change over time so the content found in the Silo's doesn't remain the same.

The museum features a variety of conventional exhibits behind glass. These include memorabilia and exhibits. There are also several impressive free standing exhibits such as a Russian tank, a Harrier jet and field guns to name a few.

Visitors can find a vast collection of paintings and drawings that were commissioned during both the First and Second World War. In addition there are also photographs, films and other media from the same time period as well.

Manchester hotels, notably hotels near the Imperial War Museum such as the Copthorne Hotel Manchester offer guests convenient access to this historically rich destination and other key attractions in the area.