From 29 September 2023, the Museum of Polish History will be operating in its new premises in Warsaw’s Citadel. During the Opening Festival, which will last from Friday 29 September to Sunday 1 October 2023, the institution has prepared many cultural events including a temporary exhibition, a concert, debates, film screenings, performances for children and workshops for young and older visitors.
The new building of the Museum of Polish History has over 44,000 square metres of space, which will accommodate, among other things, a temporary exhibition hall (1,400 square metres) and the space of the future permanent exhibition (7,300 square metres).
Attendees at the opening will be greeted by the temporary exhibition ‘Big and Small Stories. Building the Collection of the Polish History Museum”. Museum professionals will tell visitors about gifts and donors, archaeological finds and the recovery of seized antiquities.
The exhibition comprises several hundred of the nearly 60,000 objects from the collections of the Museum. They represent a wide spectrum of Polish history, drawing a variety of political, civilisational and cultural contexts including works of art and craftsmanship, artefacts of key importance for the history of Poland and the Poles, but also seemingly ordinary objects that often witnessed the moving fates of their owners. “These are stories that appeal not only to our knowledge, but also to our memory and emotions”, informs the Museum.
The Polish History Museum creates a bridge between the past and the present. Its inspiration comes from the tradition of freedom – the history of parliamentarism, civic movements, the persistent struggle for independence. This includes the phenomenon of the republic of the nobility, the national uprisings, the history of the Solidarity movement and the twice-revived restoration of the independent Republic of Poland in the 20th century.
One of its aims is to contribute to the formation of civic attitudes based on knowledge of tradition and openness to the world. By presenting key threads in the history of the Polish state and nation, the Museum presents an in-depth look at Polish history, with an awareness of the role of memory in the contemporary world.
Adrian Andrzejewski