An installation of poppies designed to resemble a “wound” will go on display at the Tower of London to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

The display of ceramic poppies aims to “reflect on the lasting legacy of conflict” and will be at the heart of the Tower as it was bombed during the Blitz.

More than five million people visited the attraction in 2014, when it was home to the art installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, which commemorated the centenary of the start of the First World War and comprised 888,246 ceramic poppies.

Each poppy will represent a military life lost during the war. About 30,000 poppies from the original installation will be on display from May 6, on loan from the Imperial War Museum’s collection.

Historic Royal Palaces 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”.