Anniversaries & holidays
28.10.2023

9th anniversary of the opening of the POLIN Museum Core Exhibition

Uroczystości otwarcia wystawy stałej w 2014 roku - goście, w tym Marian Turski i absolwentka Szkoły Lauder-Morasha, wchodzą do Muzeum POLIN.
Uroczystości otwarcia wystawy stałej, 2014 rok. fot. M. Starowieyska / Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich

The "1000-Year History of Polish Jews" Core Exhibition at POLIN Museum has just turned 9! Since the grand opening in 2014, it has been viewed by nearly 2.5 million visitors from Poland and from abroad.

  • Tickets for the core exhibition: 45PLN regular, 35PLN reduced, BUY TICKET →
  • Ticket prices →
  • Opening hours:
    • Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday: 10AM – 6PM;
    • Saturday: 10AM – 8PM.

The "1000-Year History of Polish Jews" Core Exhibition was opened on 28 October 2014. President of Poland Bronisław Komorowski, President of the State of Israel Reuven Rivlin, and delegations from many countries all across the globe arrived for the official ceremony. A total of over 1500 guests attended the exhibition’s opening, and the event was covered by more than 600 journalists. The exhibition was opened by the representatives of different generations within the Polish Jewish community: Marian Turski, Chairman of the POLIN Museum Council and a Holocaust survivor, and thirteen-year-old Joasia Widła, a graduate of the Lauder-Morasha School in Warsaw. A great dream—to tell the shared, incredibly complex and rich history and to foster further dialogue and mutual understanding—finally came true.

In its initial form, the exhibition consisted of eight interactive galleries, each dedicated to a different period in the 1000-year history of Polish Jews. Its creation was the fruit of collaboration between scholars and curators, as well as designers, filmmakers, painters, and gilders, authors of interactive installations. Participation in building the core exhibition—a fascinating thousand-year journey through time—was a unique experience for everyone involved in the process.

With time, the Core Exhibition was expanded with a new space, the ninth gallery titled ‘Legacy’. Its protagonists form a collective portrait of Polish Jewry in all its diversity, seen through the lives and achievements of individuals who are at the same time unique and representative. Their lives unfolded at the intersection of many cultures. With their openness to the world, they can serve as an inspiration both for us today and for future generations.

Yet another new addition to the Core Exhibition was an installation dedicated to the ghettoes established in Polish towns and cities, located on the mezzanine of the ‘Holocaust’ gallery. Commemorating the people imprisoned in the ghettoes, the installation consists of personal mementos documenting everyday existence in confinement: letters, diaries, as well as drawings and sketches. Their authors shared the traumatic experience of isolation, longing, fear for their lives, and concerns for their loved ones.

The Core Exhibition has been enriched with many precious artworks and artefacts over the past several years. ‘On the Jewish Street’ gallery was supplemented with the painting "Kazimierzanka" by Nathan Korzeń and a sculpture titled "A Running Deer" by Marek Schwarz. The ‘Encounters with Modernity’ gallery has gained an extraordinary, previously thought to be lost painting, "Self-Portrait in the Polish Nobleman’s Attire" by Maurycy Gottlieb from 1874, which is on long-term loan at our Museum. The ‘Holocaust’ gallery has been supplemented with new photographs from the Saternus family album, part of the POLIN Museum collection, depicting the smuggling of food into the Warsaw ghetto. ‘Postwar Years’, the ultimate gallery of the core exhibition, now concludes with a film by Mikołaj Grynberg titled "Who We Are" in which the protagonists representing all generations of Polish Jews talk about their lives in contemporary Poland. This year, a mural by Wilhelm Sasnal dedicated to civilian resistance during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was unveiled in the G9 space.

You can tour the Core Exhibition with an audio guide, either on your own or in the company of a certified guide. Audio guides are available in several languages, including Ukrainian and Belarusian. There is also a version designed for families in which visitors are guided by the voice of Polish actor Wojciech Malajkat. Visitors with disabilities can explore the Core Exhibition with the help of tactile graphics, audio description, noise-cancelling headphones, or a quiet room; groups of people with disabilities can benefit from guided tours free of charge. POLIN Museum also offers an extensive educational program for school groups revolving around the subject of the Core Exhibition.

The "1000-Year History of Polish Jews" Core Exhibition has been widely appreciated not only by our many visitors but also by museum professionals. Amongst the most important awards granted to POLIN Museum are: 35th Sybilla Contest for the Museum Event of the Year in 2014, an honourable mention in the categories: historical and archaeological exhibitions, and conservation and protection of cultural heritage for the conservation of a sukkah from Szydłowiec awarded by the National Institute for Museums, and 2016 European Museum of the Year Award. These awards highlight the excellence of the Core Exhibition and its role in promoting the knowledge of the history of Polish Jews.