Museums in Warsaw

Hello everyone,

I am going to be visiting Warsaw this summer and was wondering if anyone knows any interesting historical museums that I could visit. I am interested in Polish history, as well as Poland's role in World War I and II.

Hi Zooey, where will you be travelling from, how long will you be staying, and are you considering seeing places outside of the capital?

Based on your interests, I would have to say definitely the Warsaw Uprising Museum, and there's the Museum of History of Polish Jews opened just last month that could be worth a visit...

I'm staying for two months, at most. I really enjoy reading about Polish history and culture because those two subjects are so interesting and fun to learn about. It's unfortunate that there are not very many English language Polish history books besides, of course, Norman Davies' and Anita Prazmowska's books. Anita Prazmowska wrote about the Polish civil war and British-Polish relations before and during World War II. I believe she's a credible Anglo-Polish historian, although not as well known as the Welsh Norman Davies.

Two months would certainly allow you the opportunity to travel outside of ther capital - that obviously depends on your time commitments,etc. Knowing the language helps a lot if you were to go off the beaten track of the major tourist attractions, as does travel experience in this part of Europe.

There are definitely less books in English about Poland than say neighbouring Russia or Germany, but then again scale/significance factor would apply it seems.

BTW I've only started Davies's Rising '44. The Battle for Warsaw in English and I thought Davies was English (raised and eductated) only of Welsh descent?

Hi Zooey,

I advice you to visit at least Warsaw Uprising Museum, the Chopin Museum and £azienki Królewskie. I haven't been in the Museum of Polish Jews, so I can't tell you my opinion, but it also can be interesting. I recommend also places outside Warsaw: Botanical Garden in Powsin, Żelazowa Wola.

I am also going to Krakow and and Upper Silesia too (I am obsessed about the 1919-1921 uprisings there), but I don't know if the museums have bilingual signs, as do some in Warsaw and Wroclaw. I am taking some Polish classes now, but I don't have a solid grasp of the innumerable cases.

Check it:

warsawtour.pl/en/atrakcja_turystyczna/lista/en/175

Merged:

New PRL museum, Warsaw

I was across the river in Praga last night and noticed a sign for this: adventurewarsaw.pl/muzeum-prl/

It's basically a (privately-run) PRL museum. I don't fancy it that much myself (when I moved here the PRL was dead but very much still warm) however maybe it's worth a look for any visitors who are interested. There's also a shiny new Praga Museum (an official one) on Grochowska more or less opposite the Teatr Powszechny.

On a side note, we had dinner at a tiny TexMex place called Loco Mexicano on ul. Wiatraczna (the end by Rondo Wiatraczna) which was surprisingly good, especially the 'pozole' soup. locomexicano.pl