Anniversary of the opening of the Core Exhibition: More than two million visitors and counting

Today marks the anniversary of the opening of the Core Exhibition at POLIN Museum. Since then, more than two million people and counting have visited the exhibition, including Presidents of Poland, Finland and Germany; Prime Ministers of Israel and Norway; the Queen of Belgium and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Since the very beginning, the Core Exhibition has stirred much interest and garnered much praise: 88% of the visitors rate is as good or very good. The Exhibition gained recognition among the experts in Poland and abroad as demonstrated by multiple awards, including the prestigious EMYA 2016 European Museum of the Year Award and the European Museum Academy Award.

Eight years ago, the official ceremony of the opening of the Core Exhibition was attended by the President of Poland Bronisław Komorowski, the President of the State of Israel Reuven Rivlin, as well as by delegations from all across the globe. The Exhibition was opened by representatives of the two generations of the Jewish community in Poland: Marian Turski, Chairman of the POLIN Museum Council and Holocaust survivor, and 13-year old Joasia Widła, graduate of the Lauder-Morasha School in Warsaw. The opening ceremony was covered by over 600 journalists.

The Core Exhibition consists of eight galleries presenting the 1000-year long history of the Jewish existence in the Polish lands. Its narrative character allows the visitors to get immersed in the history told by historic objects, graphic art, interactive installations, reconstructions, video projections and texts. Having toured the Core Exhibition, the visitors note down their impressions in the Memorial Book and on special cards on which we ask what inspired them to visit our Museum. One of our guests, asked to finish the sentence: "I’m at the Museum because…", wrote: "I wanted to conquer my prejudices. Thank you…". We wish to thank you all, too!