11 October 2014—11 March 2015

Bristol’s ‘White City’

Explore the story of the ‘White City’, built for Bristol’s International Exhibition and taken over for soldiers of the First World War.

Running in conjunction with Moved by Conflict at M Shed, this display reveals a little known aspect of Bristol’s wartime history.

The International Exhibition, created to celebrate the British Empire, occupied 30 acres at Ashton Meadows. It opened in the summer of 1914 but closed as soon as the First World War broke out.

The site became barracks for Bristol’s Own and other regiments and extraordinary archive photographs reveal the rapid transition from peace to war.

Bristol Museum, Galleries & Archives is a partner in Bristol 2014, an extensive programme of activity marking the centenary of the start of the First World War in the city.