The Museum of the History of Polish Jews is the first and only museum in the world describing the thousand years of Jewish history in Poland, from the Middle Ages to modern times. The Museum is also the first public-private cultural institution in Poland, created jointly by the central and local government and a non-governmental organization. The cost involved in the construction and furnishing of the Museum, approx. PLN 200 million in total, was covered by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and by the City of Warsaw. The Core Exhibition, costing approx. PLN 130 million, was financed by the Jewish Historical Institute Association, with the support of private donors and institutions from around the world.
Symbolic meaning of the location:
The Museum has a symbolic location: at the heart of the Muranów district, opposite the monument to Ghetto Heroes. Before World War II, Muranów was the centre of Jewish Warsaw. In 1940, the area of this district was incorporated into the Warsaw Ghetto. In 1942 this is where ghetto residents were taken to the nearby Umschlagplatz, a transshipment site, and transported to the Treblinka extermination camp. In 1943, during the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto, this was a place of insurgents’ fighting. After the defeat of the uprising, the site was razed to the ground. In 1948, a monument to the Ghetto Heroes was unveiled in the ruins of the ghetto. It was in front of that monument that Wily Brandt kneeled down in 1970, paying tribute to all those who perished here.
The building:
The building, with a total area of 12,800 sq.m., is an attraction in its own right. It was erected following an international architectural contest announced in 2005. Out of the 100 designs submitted to the contest the one authored by Lahdelma & Mahlamäki, an architectural studio from Finland, was selected. One of the ideas behind the contest was to create a link between the building and the monument. The winning design reflects the geometric shape of the monument and remains in dialogue with it. Much like the monument, the building has a simple shape. The entrance faces the monument. The idea of the Finnish architects was that the museum would complement the monument by adding historical context to it. The monument commemorates those who perished whereas the Museum talks about those who lived there. The façade is covered with glass panels bearing the word ‘Po-lin’ in Yiddish and Hebrew, as a reference to the legend about the first Jewish settlers on the Polish territories. At the entrance to the Museum there is a mezuzah, made with a brick dug up from the ruins near the neighboring Nalewki street. The main hall is formed by a huge curvy wall, the only such wall in the world which is also a load-bearing structure. It refers to the Biblical story about the Red Sea parting before Moses and Jews who were on the run from Egyptian enslavement. On one side, the hall opens to the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes and to a park on the other side. The opening to the park is decorated with the largest glass pane in Poland, hanging on a steel structure. The empty space inside the Museum is a symbol of the fissure which occurred in the history of Jewry because of the Holocaust. It is an interruption but not the end. The footbridge over the hall serves as a connection between the past and the present. As such, it perfectly links the symbolic significance of the place with functional interiors.
Core Exhibition:
The Core Exhibition, presenting a thousand years in the history of Polish Jews is the centerpiece of the Museum. The exhibition occupies an area of 4,000 sq.m., or approx. 1/3 of the total area of the Museum. The concept of the Core Exhibition was developed by an international team of over 120 museologists and historians. The main idea pursued by the authors of the exhibition was to create a narrative museum, telling visitors about the 1,000 years in the history of Polish Jews, where visitors will not just be guests but will see the events through the eyes of their participants. This travel through time and space takes visitors through eight galleries, each bringing a ‘here and now’ story from the respective period. For those who would like to explore selected topics on their own, the Museum offers multimedia activities and interactive games. It is a good idea to earmark at least 1.5 hours to see the building and visit the exhibition. The Museum also houses a restaurant, a café, a museum store, cinema rooms and an information center.
Opening hours: Monday: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Tuesday: closed, Wednesday: 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, Thursday: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Friday: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Saturday: 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, Sunday: 10:00 am to 8:00 pm