Poppies to return for WW2 anniversary

A display of ceramic poppies will again go on show at the Tower of London, to “reflect on the lasting legacy of conflict” and mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two.

More than five million people visited the Norman castle in 2014 to see the art installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, which marked the centenary of the start of World War One.

It was made up of 888,246 ceramic poppies, each representing a military life lost during the war.

From May, a display of nearly 30,000 poppies from the original installation, on loan from the Imperial War Museums’ collection, will return to the Tower of London.

The new installation will be positioned to resemble a “wound” at the heart of the Tower, which was itself bombed during the Blitz.

Royal Historic Palaces (RHP) said the poppies “will pour across the lawn overlooked by the ancient White Tower, where the blood-red flowers will form a crater, with ripples flowing outwards”.

The new display has been designed by Tom Piper, who said the scale and impact of the 2014 installation could never be repeated, “but we learned on subsequent national tours that smaller installations could still carry great emotional power”.

He added: “Everywhere these poppies have been, they have brought people together, with their own stories of sacrifice, commemoration, and hope for the future.

“They have much to say about the universality of war and the anguish of suffering and loss.”

The installation opens on 6 May and can be seen as part of general admission to the Tower of London, although RHP said a small part of the display would be visible from the public footpath.

It will close on 11 November, which is Armistice Day.