Warsaw Uprising Museum

The Warsaw Uprising Museum in Warsaw, Poland, commemorates the 1944 uprising against Nazi occupation. It features over 3,000 square meters of exhibits, including 800 artifacts and 1,500 photographs, depicting the 63-day struggle for freedom. Visitors can explore interactive displays, personal testimonies, and a replica of a B-24 Liberator aircraft. The museum also hosts educational programs and temporary exhibitions, offering a comprehensive understanding of this pivotal event in Polish history.

Planning your visit

The Warsaw Uprising of August 1944 lasted 63 days. The Polish Home Army rose against the German occupation expecting Soviet forces, already at the Vistula, to cross and support them. The Red Army halted and waited. The uprising was crushed, around 200,000 civilians were killed, and Hitler ordered Warsaw razed — the city was systematically demolished street by street after the surrender, with 85 percent of it destroyed.

The museum opened on the sixtieth anniversary in a former tram power station, and it is unusually intense in design: over 3,000 square metres arranged so that the visitor moves through the chronology of the fighting, with a beating heart sound running through the building, replica sewers to crawl through — the insurgents used them to move between districts — and 800 artefacts and 1,500 photographs. A replica B-24 Liberator hangs above, recalling the Allied supply drops.

The film City of Ruins, a reconstructed aerial flight over the flattened city, is shown in a dedicated theatre and is the single most affecting element.

Bookable options include audio-guided tours and combined formats pairing this museum with POLIN. The two together cover the destruction of a city and a people, and make a heavy but coherent day. Current availability is listed below.