POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

Very informative museum. I’d recommend taking an audio guide or tour guide- the exhibition is massive and takes long time to go and read yourself. For the first time visitors I’d say read which exhibition is on which topic and focus on 2-3 max (for me this time: walk till First World War just having a light read, focus on 1900s forward - took 2 hours). If you plan on going through all exhibitions yourself, without a tour it could easily take 4-5 hours. On Thursdays the entrance is free!

I visited the museum yesterday - they have free entrance on Thursdays, so I used an opportunity. It's big, so need a few hours and comfy shoes. Liked the way it covers Polish Jewish history staring from medival times to nowadays. The museum is very informative and interactive, in my opinion. I've been to other Jewish museums in Europe - Paris, Riga, Vilnius but POLIN is the biggest and the most modern, I must say. So I'd definitely recommend visiting it.

Great museum! Take the audio guide and have the breaks they suggest. There are also chairs available that you can curry with you and sit down whenever you like.

A history truly spanning 1000+ years captured in this museum, so do factor in you’ll spend 4 hours to cover the whole thing (give or take). Great to see the rich Jewish history in what today is Poland, and so much of it preserved in this beautiful museum. The best museum we visited during our trip to Poland (after having visited 3 others in Warsaw and Łódź)

This museum is a sleeper, in that we thought it was not a must-see. It absolutely is! It's not just another Holocaust learning experience, this museum teaches you about the Jewish heritage prior to the Holocaust and the experiences of Polish Jews. Be prepared to spend at least 3 hours here if you want to listen to all of the exhibit, and it's well worth the time

One of the best museums I've ever been to. A huge wealth of information, some of it very harrowing. A must visit for anyone in Warsaw but be careful to leave plenty of time for a visit, can take up to 4 hours to see everything.

This museum didn't speak to me, as I find it anachronistic and irrelevant for what it's trying to achieve. I find it strange that it started at the medieval area and find it full of basic information That doesn't provide perspective and understand through Poland. Unfortunately, this set me off for the whole museum which is a shame. There were a lot of people, so I believe it worked with other people, but if you already have knowledge or understanding, I don't recommend this museum there is more relevant one through Europe.

Well made museum. Comparable to the Warsaw Uprising museum. History of Poland from the perspective of Jews.

"It's a square and a cake" is how someone on staff describes this museum. You get a slight glimpse of its uniqueness from the outside, but the interior's architecture will leave you breathless. Located in the old Warsaw Ghetto is a grand museum honoring Polish Jewish history. Tickets are around $11 USD. The main exhibit area is quite extensive and is entirely underground. Since most things were destroyed by the end of World War II, it's a lot of text with replicas. There are a few original items but come ready to read (or listen to the audio tour in multiple languages). I personally found the exhibit helpful in understanding how Jews came to Poland. For example, the law prevented them from owning land, separating them from the Poles. Instead, Jews became merchants and tax collectors. Make sure you spend time in the gift shop, art areas, and eating in the cafe. It's very good food!

Prepare to dedicate at least one hour if you go at the pace of the narration, I think perhaps it was even longer. It's immersive though. I enjoyed the guided tour of the massive exhibit. I'd recommend it if you have a bit of time and listen in, you'll learn about the history of the city and the Jewish community and their struggles.

This museum, commonly referred to as "POLIN" is a museum dedicated to the history of Polish Jews. I come from a family line of Polish Jews that fled the country several generations ago, but wanting to learn more about what it would have been like in Poland for my ancestors so I was super excited to check out this museum. It is really cool that this museum exists in the first place, but it was really amazing to see how popular it is and how proud the city seems to be of it. It is located just a few blocks away from the Polish Supreme Court and a small palace amongst many other cool buildings in the neighborhood. The museum lays on a huge piece of land with some gardens on one side and a beautiful sculpture on the other. The museum itself is a work of art architecturally with incredible interior design and planning. The inside is very sand colored, and naturally lit, it was truly the most beautiful museum building I've been in. Every patron is provided with a audio headset guide included and it knows what room you're in so it will keep telling you where to walk and describe what you're looking at. This was really helpful as I tend to get lost and miss cool things and learnings. The exhibits were all amazing and I learned a lot about my ancestry through the exhibits, as well as a lot about the conditions which led to WWII being so catastrophic. I think this is a great museum for everyone, not only people of Polish Jewish ancestry. I spent over 2 hours there, but I think expect to spend between 1 and 2 hours as there is so much to see. I think this is a must do if you visit Warsaw, but I am a little biased!

Warsaw's POLIN, the most amazing museum I've experienced, tells the 1,000 year history of Polish Jewry with every possible kind of exhibit and display. I spent a half day exploring it before my delegation arrived for the March of the Living, but you could easily spend days there. It is stunningly transparent, showing both the good and the bad. And my cousin Antony Polonsky was it's mastermind.

The Polin Museum-history of Polish Jews is a must visit when in Warsaw. Being a history major, I knew I had to see this. But I hadn't read up on it and I thought it was going to be in the time frame of the Holocaust. I was hugely mistaken because this museum narrates a history of a 1000 years of Polish Jews. They do an amazing job with interactive installations, oral histories and paintings, replicas etc. The museum is massive in size with more than 40k square feet of area. I loved the layout with the time periods and each gallery flowed into the next. I adore museums and this one truly impressed me. Some parts of this museum are extremely sad to view but necessary to understand the history of injustices done to a group of people based on their religion. I hope people from around the world can be accepting of all groups of people no matter their race/religion etc and hopefully learn from inhumane crimes from the past. ~

This is super informative museum on the history of Jewish Polish people. The galleries' layout is unique with rooms leading to others in a road pathway kind of direction. The journey of visiting this museum starts with the history of Jewish people fleeing Western Europe from persecutions and coming to Poland. Then you see neat things of the first Jewish settlers. Next you see the golden age of this community in 17th century. Then up to early 1900s, spoke of the Jewish contributions to the society in many areas like literature, film, businesses etc. Next gallery shows the horrors of Holocaust. Last gallery shows post war years to current day. The amount of information portrayed in this museum is impressive. This museum opened its doors in 2014 and the structure is massive in size and design. I loved the architectural components of it being really modern yet simple enough to understand. If you have only time for one museum in Warsaw, this one should be the one.

Yah. Set aside some time for this masterwork of a museum. The context here is excellent - they don't just rush headlong into the Holocaust, but also explore the history of jewish settlement, accommodation by the Polish crown, as well as the vibrant culture and literature that was flourishing in Poland before the whole thing went up in flames. Audio tours in many languages (very worthwhile), all the written stuff is in Polish and English. Cafeteria is a good break when you realize the museum will take longer than you thought. The genealogical research service resourcecenter@polin.pl is another way to contact the very helpful staff.

One the last stops for this years adventure was the POLIN Museum. This world class museum is a modern cultural institution, a narrative museum which presents a 1000 year history of the Polish Jews, from the Middle Ages until present-day times. The Core Exhibition is made up of eight galleries, spread over an area of 43,000 sq.ft., presenting the heritage and culture of Polish Jews, which still remains a source of inspiration for Poland and for the world. The galleries portray successive phases of history, beginning with legends of arrival, the beginnings of Jewish settlement in Poland and the development of Jewish culture. The exhibition show's the social, religious and political diversity of Polish Jews, highlighting impressive events from the past, the Holocaust, and concluding with present-day times. Once you turn the corner entering the Core Exhibition, you are drawn into a story told by artifacts, paintings, interactive installations, reconstructions, models, video projections, sounds and words. The focus of the Core Exhibition is on life, consequently at each stage of your journey they strive to remain close to life by letting people speak, the Jewish merchant, scholars or artists from a given era, rabbis, housewives, politicians, historians and revolutionaries. In addition to being a world class museum, the museum provides facilities for meetings, active conversation and education for all of those eager to learn more about the past and present Jewish culture, and how to confront the stereotypes, and to face the serious threats of today's world such as xenophobia and nationalistic prejudices. It is well understood by civilized nations that by promoting openness, tolerance, and truth contributes to the mutual understanding and respect amongst all peoples. The POLIN Museum offers guided as well as private tours, has a restaurant, and a gift shop. There are elevators available for the disabled, otherwise your invited to use the stairs. Sadly, because of todays times, you will be required to pass through a security area where your bags are x-rayed and you step through a metal detector. There are plush chairs and bench seating through out the facility if you need to rest and rest rooms with changing stations on every floor. You can expect to spend a minimum of 3 hours to see most everything, so plan accordingly. Parking is, well, like ever-where in Warsaw, park where you find it.

We visited this museum ten days ago (in English, it's the Museum of the History of Polish Jews [POLIN]) and the core exhibition is quite informative & extensive. If you're expecting a museum solely about the Holocaust, this isn't the place; it's a history of Polish Jews spanning 1000 years - which, of course, includes the Holocaust. The core exhibit is HUGE and it's almost an overload of information, but it's certainly very interesting and beautifully-done. Unfortunately the temporary exhibition gallery was closed during our visit, as they were in the midst of setting up the next exhibit. We ate lunch in the museum's restaurant and really enjoyed it; the food was delicious & reasonably-priced and the workers were very pleasant. The gift shop is rather large and it has a good selection of books.

With 1000 years of Jewish history, everyone will learn something new at the POLIN Museum. I was really amazed by how immersive it was, with room decor and shape complementing the topics as you move through the timeline. Lots of interactive pieces. I liked the use of primary texts throughout. We didn't do the audio guide but I think it would have been a good idea because there's so much content in the museum and Polish history can be quite complicated! The gift shop sells a short and long book version of the whole museum, so it's easy to go home and continue your learning experience.

I was greatly impressed by the exhibition here. Walking in, I was somewhat worried that it could be overly ethnocentric. That turned out not to be the case. The story is told very much in the larger context of Poland itself. For this reason, some of the material could be challenging for those unfamiliar with Polish history. The early part of the exhibition might seem especially dense if you don't already know about the various dukes and kings. A thousand year is a lot of history. Unless you're planning to spend the whole day here, you'll need to manage your time. Avoid spending too much time in the medieval section. A good chunk of the materials in this part of the exhibition is of marginal value in my opinion--the touch-screen contents in particular. Don't feel obliged to browse through everything. There're plenty of materials in the centuries ahead that are often more interesting. The materials covering the 19th century are especially worthwhile, as it was a period of major cultural and political changes.

This is one of the greatest museums that I have ever visited. I am not of the Jewish faith, but I learned so much about the history of Jews in Europe leading up to the Holocaust and have a much better understanding of why it happened. The audioguides are extremely well done. You will spend at least two hours walking through the museum - time well spent. There is an on site restaurant and gift shop as well. Don't miss visiting here if you want to learn about the history of the Holocaust, Jews in Europe, and how Poland fit into the story.

Surprisingly modern museum with inventive displays. A comprehensive story of Jews in Poland from the earliest times to present day. There are not a lot of tangible items for you to view but rather quite a bit of reading and interpretive displays. The displays are done very well and many are interactive, but because of their design I don't think this is a good museum for young kids. The clever visuals like the glass forest and medieval town are especially lovely. If you plan on reading everything in each room....this museum will take several hours to get through.

I can really recommend going to the souvenir shop in Polin Museum. It is by far the best souvenir shop to go to if you want to get more unique souvenirs. You'll find pretty notebooks, post cards, buttons and many different books in either English or Polish. Of course, most of the stuff is related to the exhibition but there is also typical warsawian motives you can get in the store. Definitely check it out, you'll be surprised!

This was one of the main reasons I visited Warsaw. Turned up on their front step 25 October only to learn the grand opening would be on 28 October and the museum would be closed until than. Went again today and as part of the grand opening, entry was free of charge which obviously attracted a large audience which led to the museum being crowded despite its enormous size. As for the core exhibition; it most certainly did not disappoint. Almost everything about the Jewish history in Poland is covered. I spent 3 hrs in the museum and I firmly believe I haven't seen everything I wanted. There's 8 galleries and all of them take up quite some space. Most of the rooms will also be attractive for smaller children to visit the museum as you can open drawers and there a lot of touch screens with information on artifacts which are suitable for children. I do advise to not visit the Holocaust gallery with very young children because of graphic images. Overall, I'm very glad I got to see this. Very nicely done and gives you quite a good experience what it meant to be Jewish in Poland through the Middle Ages until the late 20th century.

Apologies for the following but I'm a bit confused by the Jewish Museum. I've been planning my trip to the Jewish Museum for a while and was excited coz today was/is the day. Magnificent classic modern building, great location, no sparing of space, calm atmosphere, incredible architectural detail at eye level, floor level and overhead, yet 30 people employed as security and front desk personnel with metal detectors and body scanners yet nothing obvious on display bar empty rooms and a cafe (besides a audio/visual temp show) or nothing clearly indicating that there is a active museum here. Stairs everywhere blocked, maps everywhere saying take the stairs, graphics showing 3D images of a museum which is accessed by the same stairs. As confused people ganged up at the cash desk asking questions about how to navigate the place - I gave up. I'll return in 3 months once I read a review that let's me know it's ready for visitors.