Dunham Massey’s “extraordinary” First World War hospital exhibition has been shortlisted for a prestigious museum of the year award.
The National Trust-owned property is one of six finalists nominated for the Art Fund Prize’s Museum of the Year title, with the winner receiving £100,000 in prize money.
The recognition is for Dunham Massey’s Sanctuary from the Trenches exhibition, which last year saw it transformed back to its role as Stamford Military Hospital between 1917 and 1919.
Intended to mark the centenary anniversary of the Great War, the hospital was recreated using artefacts and furniture from the house’s own archive.
Below: The main ward in the recreated Stamford Military Hospital
Much of the main collection – over 5,000 items – was put into storage, which freed up the same set of rooms and spaces that had been used during the war as a hospital for 282 wounded troops.
Working alongside Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, professional actors were brought in to tell real stories from the archives.
The hospital’s main ward (‘Bagdad’ as the soldiers called it), their recreation room, the operating theatre and nurses’ station all form part of the exhibition.
Dunham Massey, which has also won the National Trust’s own ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ for the exhibition, is the first Trust property to reach the finals of the prize.
Below: Wounded soldiers outside the hospital in 1917
Stephen Adams, Dunham’s general manager, said: “Being a Museum of the Year finalist is a testament to the hard work, dedication and creativity of the team here at Dunham Massey.
“Previous generations of those who lived at Dunham have left their mark through its treasured collections, glorious gardens and great estate.
“Our legacy is to ensure its stories – like those of the Stamford Military Hospital – continue to inspire and engage with those who not only visit today but also for future generations to come.”
Speaking about the hospital, legendary war reporter Kate Adie told The Guardian: “To enter Dunham, to encounter actors in uniform and hear recordings of those who nursed the soldiers, to read the moving letters and diaries is to walk into the past.
“A gramophone with a huge horn plays tinnily in the great hall to cheer up those gassed and disabled men. And you go out into the lovely deer park thinking how war changes everything.”
The Stamford Hospital is open from Saturday to Wednesday until November 11th 2015.
The other five finalists are the Whitworth in Manchester, Imperial War Museum London, the Tower of London, The MAC in Belfast and Oxford University’s Museum of Natural History. The winner will be announced on July 1.
