A Story Brought to Life
The War Rooms at The Story of Emily is a walk-in documentary that merges cinematic storytelling, immersive scenography, and interactive technology to bring the story of the Anglo-Boer War and Emily Hobhouse’s forgotten legacy to life. Across 24 interconnected rooms, visitors are invited into a layered, emotional, and sensorial journey through history that challenges perceptions and inspires reflection.
This is not a static exhibition. It is a time machine that transports visitors into the lived world of Emily Hobhouse, an English whistleblower who exposed the horrors of British concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War and devoted her life to reconciliation and humanitarian work.
Each room combines physical sets, carefully curated artifacts, evocative visuals, and motion-tracked audio to immerse visitors in the narrative. They do not just read about history; they experience it. They smell Boere coffee, hear the clatter of marbles, see shifting light across scorched earth, and encounter real objects from the camps, like a child’s dress sewn from rags. These details create a direct and powerful connection to the past.
Emotional Engagement as a Tool for Learning
The story is brought to life through emotion as much as information. Visitors feel the weight of a train ride into uncertainty, the quiet horror of a mirrored tent, and the collective grief of Emily’s funeral, attended by over 20,000 people. The final room often leaves people in tears, reminding them that history is not abstract but human.
Thijs Wolzak
One Story, Many Audiences
The exhibition speaks to a wide range of visitors, regardless of age, language, or prior knowledge.- Adults connect with the political, ethical, and historical themes
- International guests can follow the story through visual storytelling, atmosphere, and sound
The same narrative of moral courage, resistance, and the human cost of war reaches every visitor, but in a form suited to their level of engagement and understanding. Interpretive texts are minimal by design. Instead, the exhibition relies on scenography and cinematic tools to deliver a story that is felt as much as it is learned.
Technology that Serves the Story
The use of technology serves the story rather than distracts from it. Motion-tracked headphones provide a private, immersive narration experience that follows each visitor individually. Cinematic projection, lighting design, and surround sound allow the spaces to evolve dynamically. Visitors feel they are stepping inside a memory, not observing it from afar.
Real Impact, Real Emotion
Feedback confirms the power of this approach. Visitors describe the exhibition as life-changing, deeply moving, and unlike any museum they have ever seen. Post-visit responses reveal how many guests leave inspired, thoughtful, and emotionally affected. Many sit at the vintage typewriters in the final room to leave a message, often a quiet testimony of personal connection or newfound awareness.
Thijs Wolzak
A New Kind of Heritage Experience
What makes The War Rooms innovative is its ability to connect a historic story with present-day relevance, and to do so through an experience that is immersive, inclusive, and emotionally unforgettable. It brings to light a silenced female voice, confronts a difficult chapter of British history, and creates space for visitors to reflect on their own role in shaping a more just world.
This is history brought to life with empathy, imagination, and care. Visitors do not just learn about Emily Hobhouse. They walk beside her. And in doing so, they leave with a deeper understanding of war, peace, and the power of individual action.
Partners
- Client: The Story of Emily
- Lead content / curator + texts: Elsabe Brits
- Fit out: Brandwacht & Meijer
- Hardware and showcontrol: Mansveld - Audio Visuals Control
- Light design: HeinzLoopstra Lightdesign
- Audio guide: Nous digital
- Animation and direction audio: BIND Films
- Video, animations, audio recording: Public Agency
- Music: Bart Westerlaken
- Fit out parliament room: Planemos
- Interactive animation: Yipp
- Illustrations: Heavy Bones
- Architect: Stonewood Design
