Warsaw · on the Vistula
POLIN Museum
A thousand years of Polish Jewish history, told on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto.
Photo by Dmitry Korkhau on Unsplash
The Museum of the History of Polish Jews — universally known by its short name, POLIN — sits in Muranów, Warsaw's pre-war Jewish quarter and the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. Designed by Finnish architects Rainer Mahlamäki and Ilmari Lahdelma after an international competition, the building opened in 2013, with its award-winning core exhibition following in 2014.
That core exhibition traces a full millennium of history — from the earliest Jewish settlement in Poland through the Holocaust and the postwar decades — across eight galleries using multimedia narratives, interactive stations, and large-scale reconstructions, including a recreation of the ornately painted roof and ceiling of the wooden Gwoździec synagogue.
Before you even step inside, the square in front of the museum holds one of Warsaw's most important memorials: the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, sculpted by Nathan Rapoport and unveiled on 19 April 1948, the fifth anniversary of the Ghetto Uprising. It stands at the site of the first armed clash of the 1943 Uprising, and it was here, at Rapoport's monument, that West German Chancellor Willy Brandt sank to his knees in December 1970 — the Warschauer Kniefall, an unscripted act of atonement that became one of the defining images of postwar reconciliation. Our Jewish heritage guide sets the monument in the wider landscape of Ghetto memorials across the city.
01 · Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What does "POLIN" mean?
Polin is the Hebrew word for Poland, and also relates to a legend about the arrival of the first Jews in the country — the word can be read as 'rest here.'
Is POLIN the same as the Warsaw Uprising Museum?
No — they cover different history. POLIN traces a thousand years of Polish Jewish history, including the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943; the Warsaw Uprising Museum covers the separate 1944 citywide insurrection by the Polish Home Army.
How much time should I budget?
The core exhibition spans over 4,000 square metres across eight galleries with more than 200 interactive stations — most visitors spend two to three hours, longer if you read deeply into each gallery.
Where is POLIN located?
In Muranów, on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto and pre-war Jewish quarter — the location itself is part of the museum's significance.
✦ Verify before you go
Sources & official links
We verify prices, hours, and dates against official pages. They change without notice — confirm time-sensitive details at the source before you go.
- POLIN Museum (official) — Current hours, ticketing, and the core exhibition.