Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN w Warszawie

Warszawa

The Museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw was ceremonially opened in 2014. It is located in Muranów, at the heart of the former Jewish district. Right next to it stands the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. In its very first year, the museum welcomed more than 350,000 visitors. Most of them explored the exhibition using audio guides.Polin is the name of Poland in Yiddish and Hebrew. The first Jews came to the Vistula around the year 1000, and in later centuries Poland became their main European home. So it remained until the Holocaust.The museum's exhibition presents the thousand-year history of the Jewish presence in Poland on an astonishing scale. The building itself – the home of Polin – inspires admiration, and not only among specialists. The audio guide begins with a walk through an ancient forest and then leads through the twists and turns of events, at times better, at times worse for Polish Jews. We visit an old market town, a throne room, a railway station waiting room and a street of a pre-war city, and we can admire the fabulously colourful interior of a 17th-century synagogue. In quiet reflection, we learn about the history of the 20th century.The ceremonial opening of the core exhibition was preceded by the opening of the museum building itself. Even then, guests could see a temporary exhibition using audio guides prepared by Audiotour.