Warsaw Rising Museum

The 1944 Warsaw Uprising and subsequent destruction of the city are central to modern Warsaw's identity. The entire city, rebuilt with loving accuracy by its citizens with the help of old paintings, sketches and plans, stands today as a monument to the heroism of those who defended Warsaw against the German occupier, and the will of a people that has never given up struggling.

While the city was rebuilt under the watchful eye of communist authorities, the uprising itself, as a demonstration of Warsaw's struggle for freedom, a freedom that was not meant to include the patronage of Uncle Stalin, remained a taboo subject until the fall of the iron curtain. Perhaps this is why the memory of the uprising and its consequences is so strongly felt throughout the city. The outbreak of fighting, on 1 August at 5:00 PM, is observed every year with two minutes of silence across the city, signalled by the blaring of sirens, while the military and other cemeteries are packed with scouts, politicians and even a few elderly survivors of the uprising, laying flowers and lighting candles on the graves of the fallen.

The Warsaw Rising Museum opened in 2004, on the 60th anniversary of the uprising. It doesn't merely outline the events of the uprising - it plunges you into occupied Warsaw, bringing those terrifying and heroic days to life, recreating the feel and the spirit of the era down to the last detail. The museum building - a former tram power station - is absolutely packed with information, which the visitor is invited to uncover and explore. Surviving insurgents recount their memories through old telephone receivers; illuminated photographs can be found inside little drawers pulled out from walls plastered with documents, posters, newspapers and other artefacts. Sheets can be torn off wall calendars placed along the visiting route which detail the significant events of each day of fighting; step by step, the world of the insurgents and civilians who lived and died in the uprising is pieced together.

VIRTUAL MUSEUM

The museum progresses from the world of the pre-uprising occupation, through the 63 days of fighting, to capitulation, reprisals and the fate of the surviving insurgents under the communist government. A steel monument passes straight through all the floors of the museum, engraved with a timeline of the insurgent movements. From the top of the museum tower, you can look out over a panoramic view of the city, with Freedom Park and the Memorial Wall in the distance, which lists the names of over 10,000 insurgents who fell in battle.

Opening Hours: Monday, Wednesday & Friday: 8.00-18.00 , Thursday: 8.00-20.00
Saturday & Sunday: 10.00-18.00

Tickets:

Individual - 14.00 PLN , Discounted - 10.00 PLN, Group with guide - 7.00 PLN per person

'The City of Ruins' film - 2.00 PLN

Free of charge - Sunday

Audioguides: 10 PLN

Guided Tours: Groups - 50.00 PLN, Individual - 70.00 PLN +7.00 PLN per person

P.S. Just three hundred meters away from Museum, you'll find nice cafe Columbus Coffe, when you can take a rest after visit in Museum.