POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews (Polish: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich) is a museum on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The Hebrew word Polin in the museum's English name means either "Poland" or "rest here" and relates to a legend about the arrival of the first Jews to Poland. Construction of the museum in designated land in Muranów, Warsaw's prewar Jewish quarter, began in 2009, following an international architectural competition won by Finnish architects Rainer Mahlamäki and Ilmari Lahdelma.
Completed at a cost of 320 million zloty, the museum opened on 19 April 2013 with the core exhibition, showcasing the thousand-year history of Polish Jews, opening on October 28, 2014. The museum's architecture features a minimalist exterior with glass fins and copper mesh, and an interior designed by Event Communications. A central feature is the cavernous entrance hall, symbolizing the fractured history of...Read more
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews (Polish: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich) is a museum on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The Hebrew word Polin in the museum's English name means either "Poland" or "rest here" and relates to a legend about the arrival of the first Jews to Poland. Construction of the museum in designated land in Muranów, Warsaw's prewar Jewish quarter, began in 2009, following an international architectural competition won by Finnish architects Rainer Mahlamäki and Ilmari Lahdelma.
Completed at a cost of 320 million zloty, the museum opened on 19 April 2013 with the core exhibition, showcasing the thousand-year history of Polish Jews, opening on October 28, 2014. The museum's architecture features a minimalist exterior with glass fins and copper mesh, and an interior designed by Event Communications. A central feature is the cavernous entrance hall, symbolizing the fractured history of Polish Jews. The organizational structure of POLIN includes an academic team led by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and chief historian Antony Polonsky.
The museum's Core Exhibition, occupying over 4,000 square meters, presents a comprehensive narrative of Jewish history in Poland across eight galleries. These galleries cover periods from the early Jewish settlers in Poland to the Holocaust and the post-war years, using multimedia narratives, interactive installations, and reconstructions, such as the Gwoździec synagogue's roof and ceiling. The museum also operates the Virtual Shtetl portal, providing extensive information on Jewish life in Poland before and after the Holocaust. The Core Exhibition won the European Museum of the Year Award in 2016.
President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the POLIN Museum, 26 June 2007The idea for creating a major new museum in Warsaw dedicated to the history of Polish Jews was initiated in 1995 by the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.[1] In the same year, the Warsaw City Council allocated the land for this purpose in Muranów, Warsaw's prewar Jewish quarter and site of the former Warsaw Ghetto, facing the Monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes. In 2005, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland established a private-public partnership with the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the City of Warsaw. The museum's first director was Jerzy Halbersztadt. In September 2006, a specially designed tent called Ohel (the Hebrew word for tent) was erected for exhibitions and events at the site of the museum's future location.[1]
An international architectural competition to design the building was launched in 2005, supported by a grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. On June 30, 2005, the winner was announced by the jury as the team of two Finnish architects, Rainer Mahlamäki and Ilmari Lahdelma.[2] On June 30, 2009, construction of the building was officially inaugurated. The project was completed in 33 months at a cost of 150 million zlotys allocated by the ministry and the city, [a] with a total cost of 320 million zloty.[4][5] It is financially supported by annual funds from the Polish Ministry of Culture and Warsaw City Council.[6]
The building opened and the museum began its educational and cultural programs on April 19, 2013, on the 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. During the 18 months that followed, more than 180,000 visitors toured the building, visited the first temporary exhibitions, and took part in cultural and educational programs and events, including film screenings, debates, workshops, performances, concerts, and lectures. The Grand Opening, with the completed Core Exhibition, took place on October 28, 2014.[7] The Core Exhibition documents and celebrates the thousand-year history of the Jewish community in Poland that was decimated by the Holocaust.[8][9]
In 2016 the museum won the European Museum of the Year Award from the European Museum Forum.[10]
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