Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews

We will take a journey through one thousand years of history and culture of Polish Jews – once the largest Jewish community in the world.

The story is presented in a very modern, interactive exhibition that makes the Polin Museum the most spectacular new museum in Poland. In 2016 it received the European Museum of the Year Award.

The building itself is a result of international competition. It was designed by Finnish architect Rainer Mahlamaekki, who first had to take into consideration the location of the Museum: in what used to be the very heart of Jewish Warsaw, later turned by the Nazis into the ghetto.

I believe he did a great job. When was the last time you saw a glass building on the site of genocide? Never, it never happens. It`s an incredible statement of hope in the place of tragedy.

For all of us, the Museum has become an icon of modern architecture in Warsaw. For me it is also the face of new Poland – it`s about light, transparency, reflection, openness.

The Museum brings a balance to our memory. For most people in the world, the story of Polish Jews is the story of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, genocide overshadowed what was before.

The Core Exhibition starts with a few travelling medieval merchants, goes through centuries when this part of Europe was home for the largest Jewish community in the world, explores distinctive form of life and culture of Polish Jews, their social, economic and political evolution, all the way until extermination during World War Two.

But Holocaust isn`t the end. The exhibition goes on to present times, telling what happened to Polish Jews who survived the war, how they lived in communism and how the live today.

The Core Exhibition consists of 8 galleries:

1. The Forest
2. First Encounters (960-around 1500)
3. Paradisus Iudaeorum (1569-1648)
4. Shtetl – a Jewish Town (1648-1772)
5. Encounters with Modernity (1772-1914)
6. On the Jewish Street (1918-1939)
7. Holocaust (1939-1945)
8. Postwar (1945 to the present)

Please note that if you are very interested in the subject and want to explore every detail of the exhibition, you could spend a week in this Museum. For me, to get that damn (sorry!) Museum guide`s certificate, meant: four months of hard studies, four stages of exams, and surely more than four new, grey hairs… Truly, it was the toughest exam I have ever had in my life.
So… to be realistic, I need min. 3-4 hours to show you and explain the most important elements.

If you want a more detailed tour, we can make it longer of course. Just let me know. We can do part of the exhibition, then have a coffee break in the Museum`s cafeteria and then continue the tour. Each additional hour will increase my rate by 100 zloty.

Please note:

the Museum is closed on Tuesdays

You can combine this tour with:

How it works?

Duration:
3-4 hours

Meeting point:
at the reception desk in the Museum (or in your hotel, if you wish so)

Transportation:
If you would like me to meet you in your hotel, please ask for transportation cost

Price:
Price 800 zloty
Each additional hour: +200 złoty

What`s included:
Guiding service

Not included:
Entrance fee 45 złoty per person
Compulsory headsets 80 złoty

Book:
If you like this tour, just drop me a message with your preferred date and time. Let me also know how many of you are coming and whether you would like a more detailed tour, longer than 3-4 hours