International Museum Day 2026

Today is International Museum Day. My local museum is undergoing a major refurbishment, so most of it is closed. The Spitfire gallery, theatre and cafe are still open, and there’s a small display of items chosen by museum staff.

The key in the photo is one of the items on display. It’s the key to Lidice, one of only three. It was presented to the Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent in 2017, during a visit to Lidice marking the 75th anniversary of the massacre and destruction of the village.

I tell the full story of Lidice and the connection to Stoke-on-Trent in A Ray of Light, but the short version is that in 1942, Hitler ordered the Czech village of Lidice to be destroyed in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.

The village was completely (and literally) erased, even being removed from maps. At the end of the process, there was nothing left. But a doctor in Stoke-on-Trent galvanised the local miners into action, and they raised the equivalent of nearly two million pounds in today’s money.

That money was used to rebuild the village, and it still stands today. Hitler had wanted the memory of Lidice to die, but the village still lives on, with a monument to all those that have been killed in war.

The display states that the person who chose it did so because of “the immense weight of 20th century history that sits behind it”. For me, it’s another example of why museums are so important. Seeing the actual key is much more impactful than simply reading about it. If you’re ever in Stoke-on-Trent, take the time to visit the Potteries Museum and see the key for yourself.