Museum of Free Derry

The Museum of Free Derry in the Bogside tells the story of the civil rights movement and the period of the late 1960s and early 1970s when this part of the city effectively governed itself beyond British law. The museum is small but densely documented — personal testimony, photographs, and contemporary film footage of the civil rights marches, the Battle of the Bogside in 1969, and Bloody Sunday in 1972.

The museum is run by the families of those killed on Bloody Sunday and is frank about its perspective: this is nationalist Derry's account of what happened, and it does not pretend otherwise. That transparency is a strength. Combined with a visit to the Free Derry Corner gable wall across the road — still bearing the words "You are now entering Free Derry" — and the adjacent People's Gallery murals, it makes for a powerful hour.

things to do museum
A story
On 30 January 1972 — Bloody Sunday — British paratroopers shot 28 unarmed civil rights demonstrators in the Bogside, killing 14. The British government maintained for decades that the soldiers had fired in self-defence. The Saville Inquiry, which concluded in 2010, found that all of the shootings were unjustified and that the victims posed no threat. The British Prime Minister issued a formal apology — one of the very few occasions the UK government has done so for events in Northern Ireland.

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