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Varsovia Rising Museum

Warsaw Rising Museum (Street Grzybowska 79, Warsaw) — this Museum is a tribute to Warsaw’s residents who fought and died for independent Poland and its free capital. The exhibition depicts fighting and everyday life during the Rising, keeping occupation terror in the background. Complexity of the international situation at the time of the Rising is portrayed, including the post-war years of the Communist regime and the fate of Insurgents in the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL). With the total area of more than 3000 m2, 800 exhibition items, approximately 1500 photographs, films and sound recordings, history of the days preceding the Rising is told. Visitors are guided through the subsequent stages of the Rising until the time when the Insurgents left Warsaw.

The second part of the permanent exhibition, opened in May of 2006 in Hall B, presents the story of Allied airdrops. Its highlight is a replica of a Liberator B-24J bomber. Much of the exhibition has been devoted to the Germans and their allies, showing their actions in Warsaw as documented in official texts from the time of the Rising and in private notes. Admission: 14 ZŁ (regular), 10 ZŁ (reduced). Hours: 8 am – 6 pm (Monday, Wednesday, Friday); 10 am – 6 pm (Saturday & Sunday), 8 am – 8 pm (Thursday). Closed on Tuesdays.

Museo del ferrocarril de Varsovia

Warsaw Railway Museum (Street Towarowa 1, Warsaw) – located at the one-time Warsaw Main Station, this museum is a paradise for lovers of locomotive trains. Here, one can find both standard and narrow-gauge railways, documents, railway carriages, machines and equipment, uniforms, models of rolling-stock, railway banners and paintings. Admission: 12 ZŁ (regular), 6 ZŁ (reduced) Hours: 9 am – 4 pm (Tuesday – Sunday). 9 am – 2 pm (Monday – free admission).

Museo Arqueológico Estatal

State Archaeological Museum (Street Długa 52, Warsaw) – housed within the Warsaw Arsenal is this museum, which has a variety of exhibitions. One of them is “Prehistory of Polish Lands” – highlighting the people who lived in Poland from the Stone Age until the medieval period. Another, “the History of Biskupin” – covers that fortified settlement from 2700 years ago, and another covers the history of the Warsaw Arsenal itself. Admission: 10 ZŁ (regular), 5 ZŁ (discount). Hours: 9 am – 4 pm (daily). Free admission on Sunday.

Castillo Real

Royal Castle (Museum) (Square Zamkowy 4, Warsaw) – this castle holds various artworks from Polish and international artists (in particular Rembrandt’s paintings “Girl in the Picture Frame” and “Scholar at the Desk”.). In addition, there are also archaeological artifacts from the country’s past, as well as a unique collection of eastern rugs. Admission: 22 ZŁ (regular), 15 ZŁ (discount). Hours: 10 am – 4 pm (Tuesday – Saturday), 11 am – 4 pm (Sunday), 10 am – 6 pm (Monday).

Fuertes de Raclawice en Varsovia

Raclawice Forts in Warsaw (Street Skazańców 25, Warsaw) – these forts were built in 1832 by the Russian Empire when it occupied this part of Poland. An earth and brick fortress was erected in the shape of a bastion surrounded by a moat. The expansion of these fortifications and their modernization happened in stages and lasted for decades which  included the interiors (bastions, gun emplacements, gates, barracks and shelters) and also the exterior which resulted in a ring of forts that have survived to this day (Fort Traugutt, Fort Sokolnicki and Fort Jasinski). With the expansion of the city the fortress also expanded polygonally, especially on the left bank of the River Vistula.

Przeworsk

Przeworsk (fort) (Przeworsk) – located in the outskirts of this town in southeastern Poland (4 ½ hours southeast of Warsaw), walls were built during the Middle Ages to defend this part of Poland against invaders from various countries: from Italy to Sweden, and the Ottoman Turks. Nowadays, one can admire the remnants of town’s fortifications near the parish church and the Monastery of Bernardines, and in the streets: Kazimierzowska , Kilińskiego , Tkacka , Słowackiego , Św. Jana. Building of the defensive walls began in 1512. Several years later king Zygmunt issued a privilege which confirmed the fortification of Przeworsk. There were three gateways leading to the city and five watchtowers. Przeworsk has got also basements and dungeons.

Panorama de la Batalla de Racławice

Panorama of the Battle of Racławice (ul. Purkyniego 11 50-155 Wroclaw) – located nearly 4 hours southwest of Warsaw (via Route E30), this exhibition hall pays tribute to the Panorama of the Battle of Racławice in Wrocław, an impressive relic of 19th-century century mass culture, is one of only few examples of this genre preserved in Europe. The large painting (15x114m) ‘transfers’ the viewer into an altogether different time, a reality of its own, by artfully combining painterly devices (special kind of perspective) and technical effects (lighting, artificial terrain, dark and usually tortuous passage to the viewing platform). Panorama of the Battle of Racławice is the oldest and only extant example of panorama painting in Poland. Admission: 25 ZŁ (regular), 18 ZŁ (reduced – seniors, students, disabled)(family: parents and children). Free for children under 7 years. Times vary – see its website for an updated schedule: www.panoramaraclawicka.pl

Fortaleza de Osowiec

Osowiec Fortress (Street Osowiec – Twieddza 8, Goniadz) – this fort was built by the Czarist Russian forces in this part of Poland during the late 19th & early 20th centuries. These forces used the then-original construction technique of making their fortifications entirely from poured concrete monoliths. It was also of an unusual size (its circumference was 2.6km) and contained, in addition to the usual military buildings, an army barracks, warehouses, brick and wooden housing and a church. The tsarist fortifications proved successful as the fortress was attacked three times by the German Army in World War I and never captured. However during the war in 1939 the fortress did not play any role as the German Army went around the Biebrza Marshes at this point. Call for details: +48 857380620

Museo Nacional

National Museum (Alley Jerozolimskie 3, Warsaw) — The National Museum in Warsaw was originally founded in 1862 as the Museum of Fine Arts and is currently one of the oldest art museums in the country. After Poland regained its independence in 1918, the National Museum was given a prominent role in the plans for the new state and its capital city of Warsaw, and the Modernist building in which it currently resides was erected in 1927–1938. Nowaday, this museum has a collection of about 830,000 works of art from Poland and abroad, from ancient times to the present including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, coins, as well as utilitarian objects and design. Admission: 15 ZŁ (regular), 10 ZŁ (reduced), 40 ZŁ (family). Hours: 10 am – 6 pm (Tuesday – Sunday), 10 am – 9 pm (Thursday).

Museo del ejército polaco

Museum of the Polish Army (Alley Jerozolimskie 3, Warsaw) – this is the only museum in the country that details the history of the Polish Army from its infancy during the 10th century until the end of the Nazi occupation in World War II. There’s also an art collection, and a number of military displays. Polish Air Force planes and tanks are on display within the museum grounds – a major attraction among families and school groups. Admission: 12 ZŁ (regular), 6 ZŁ (reduced).