This is the first facility of its kind in Poland. It has been opened in the former premises of the Faculty of Landscape Studies of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) in Lublin. The Museum houses collections on polar research in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, as well as Siberia. The facility is intended to disseminate knowledge about the work of scientists in these areas.

An exhibition on the history of polar expeditions was presented at the opening. The Museum of Polar Research houses, among other things, walrus bone sculptures, an Inuit outfit, a model of a canoe from pre-war expeditions to Greenland, a snowmobile and sledge from Polish polar stations, shells, fossils and ambers from Siberia, maps and a book collection related to polar research, and even an MI-2 helicopter used in 1979 for research in East Antarctica.

The Museum of Polar Research in Puławy is intended to disseminate knowledge about polar research and the participation of Polish scientists in its development, as well as educational, scientific and publishing activities. The Puławy museum is designed to be a meeting place for the community of Polish polar explorers, e.g. during organised symposia and conferences. It is also intended to provide a space for the collection of unique mementos from expeditions and national and international polar research.

It is worth knowing that the first polar expedition of the UMCS was organised in cooperation with the Institute of Fundamental Geology of the University of Warsaw and set off from Lublin on 24 June 1986. Employees of the UMCS have been successfully conducting research at the Calypsobyen polar station on Spitsbergen for years.

The Museum of Polar Research in Puławy was established on 27 May 2020. Since 25 June 2021. Lubelskie Voivodeship has been running the institution jointly with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Adrian Andrzejewski