Polish Army Museum

Last updated
Museum of the Polish Army
Warsaw Military Museum 2011 01.jpg
Former main building of the museum
Polish Army Museum
Established22 April 1920
Location Warsaw, Poland
Website www.muzeumwp.pl

Museum of the Polish Army (Polish : Muzeum Wojska Polskiego) is a museum in Warsaw documenting the military history of Poland. Established in 1920 under the Second Polish Republic, it formerly occupied a wing of the building of the Polish National Museum and now occupies a building of its own at the Warsaw Citadel, as well as several branches in Poland. It is Warsaw's second largest museum and the largest collection of military objects in Poland. [1] The collection illustrates a thousand years of Polish military history, from the 10th century to the Second World War. [1]

Contents

Establishment

Decree about creation of Army Museum led by Bronislaw Gembarzewski Jozef Pilsudski - Dekret o powolaniu do zycia oraz Statut Muzeum Wojska - 701-001-058-263.pdf
Decree about creation of Army Museum led by Bronisław Gembarzewski

Opened in 1920, the museum expanded in 1993 with the Museum of Katyn and the Museum of Polish Military Technology opened in the 9th Czerniakowski Fort. [2] [3]

Collections

Polish helmet (szlom), 10th century Polish helmet from X century.PNG
Polish helmet (szłom), 10th century
Karacena armour, 17th century Karacena.JPG
Karacena armour, 17th century
M-3 Halftrack in front of the museum MWP BTR.JPG
M-3 Halftrack in front of the museum

The forecourt of the museum houses several dozen armoured vehicles, artillery pieces and aircraft, an eclectic mix of Soviet, western and Polish equipment, mostly from the World War II era.

The indoor galleries concentrate on the military history of Poland since the 10th century, and are particularly strong on Poland's era of military greatness in the 17th century, through the decline into anarchy in the 18th century. Several rooms are devoted to Poland's part in the Napoleonic Wars, and the national uprisings of 1830-31 and 1863. [4] By far the largest part of exhibition space is devoted to the 20th century, especially World War II. Highlights of the museum's collection include an extremely rare gilded helmet from the 10th century, which is said to have belonged to a Polish chieftain and the collection of hussars' armour. [5]

Additionally there is a permanent exhibition of oriental arms and armour from the museum's own extensive collection, which includes many world-class items from Ottoman Turkey, the Crimean Tatar Khanate, Mongolia and Japan. [4] [6] The heavy weaponry is on display in the adjacent park and at the Fort Czerniakowski (Museum of Polish Military Technology, closed at present while it is being repaired). The park surrounding the museum is home to an open-air exhibition of heavy military equipment (tanks, artillery, aircraft and mine detection and diffusion). The Fort houses also the Museum of Katyń Victims, a subsidiary of the Polish Army Museum. [1]

The museum was recently given the equipment from the soldiers lost in the presidential Smolensk aircraft crash. The equipment includes the ID Passes, portable radios, torches, holsters and much more all in their original state.[ citation needed ]

Permanent exhibitions

The museum is run as a department of the Polish armed forces, an arrangement which brings advantages - such as limitless access to military surplus stock - but also disadvantages (not least the lack of a proper giftshop/bookshop, since, by law Polish military facilities cannot sell goods to the public on a commercial basis).

New Building

On December 15, 2008, the Museum of the Polish Army announced that it will sponsor an international competition to choose an architectural design for its new premises and surrounding area. The building will be built in the historic Citadel located in Warsaw's Żoliborz district. The new museum is expected to be a modern multimedia institution similar in concept to the highly successful Warsaw Uprising Museum. The winner was expected to be selected in August 2009, construction of the museum was supposed to begin in 2009 or 2010 and completion due in 2013, however in early 2014, this still had not occurred. Once the new Polish Army Museum is built, its current building in the city center will be taken over by the National Museum in Warsaw. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piaseczno</span> Place in Masovian Voivodeship, Poland

Piaseczno is a town in east-central Poland with 47,660 inhabitants. It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship, within the Warsaw metropolitan area, just south of Warsaw, approximately 16 kilometres south of its center. It is a residential area and a suburb of Warsaw. It is the capital city of Piaseczno County.

<i>Armoured companion</i> Military unit

Armoured companion was a medium-cavalryman in 16th to 18th century Poland, named after their chainmail armor. These units were the second-most-important cavalry in the Polish-Lithuanian army, after the hussars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Żoliborz</span> Warsaw district in Masovian Voivodeship, Poland

Żoliborz is one of the northern districts of the city of Warsaw. It is located directly to the north of the City Centre, on the left bank of the Vistula river. It has approximately 50,000 inhabitants and is one of the smallest boroughs of Warsaw. Despite its small size, the district has many green areas and mostly consists of low-rise architecture. Historically an upscale neighborhood and home to Warsaw's intelligentsia prior to World War II, Żoliborz is the second most expensive residential district in Warsaw after Śródmieście.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mors submachine gun</span> Submachine gun

Pistolet maszynowy wz. 39 Mors was a Polish submachine gun designed by Piotr Wilniewczyc and Jan Skrzypiński between 1936 and 1938. It was to have become the standard submachine gun of the Polish Army some time in the 1940s. However, its production was halted by the 1939 Invasion of Poland and World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hełm wz. 31</span>

The hełm wz. 31 was the basic combat helmet of the Polish Army before the outbreak of World War II and during the Invasion of Poland. The helmet became the basic type of combat headgear for Polish military formations in the 1930s and during the early stages of World War II. It was also exported to Persia, Albania and Republican Spain. By September 1939 approximately 320,000 helmets were delivered to the Polish Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stadion Wojska Polskiego</span> Polish football stadium

The Stadion Wojska Polskiego, officially named Stadion Miejski Legii Warszawa im. Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego is an all-seater, highest fourth category football-specific stadium located at 3 Łazienkowska Street in the Śródmieście district, Powiśle area, within the square of the streets: Łazienkowska, Czerniakowska, Kusocińskiego and Myśliwieck. It is the home ground of Legia Warsaw football club, who have been playing there since 9 August 1930.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Field Cathedral of the Polish Army</span> Church in Warsaw, Poland

The Field Cathedral of the Polish Army is the main garrison church of Warsaw and the representative cathedral of the entire Polish Army. In the past the church served a variety of communities and roles: it used to be the church of the Collegium Nobilium and in the 19th century was also turned into a Russian Orthodox church. Currently all major military religious feasts in Warsaw are held there.

As a result of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers became prisoners of war. Many of them were executed; 22,000 Polish military personnel and civilians perished in the Katyn massacre alone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sadyba</span> Warsaw Neighborhood in Masovian Voivodeship, Poland

Sadyba is a neighborhood in Mokotów district of Warsaw, Poland. It has an administrative status of osiedle within the city. Sadyba can be divided into Old Sadyba, mainly upper class housing, and New-Sadyba with modern retail stores and communist era high rise apartments. Old and New Sadyba can be divided roughly by Świętego Bonifacego street, just south of the Sadyba Best mall. Sadyba is known as the "Garden City" due to the large number of household and community gardens tended by the residents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polish Special Forces</span> Military unit

The Special Troops Command is the special forces command of the Polish Armed Forces. The command was formed in 2007 and is the fourth military branch of the SZ RP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K pattern flamethrower</span> Flamethrower

The K pattern flamethrower was a man-portable backpack flamethrower, produced in occupied Poland during World War II for the underground Home Army. These flamethrowers were used in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia–Poland relations</span> Bilateral relations

Georgia–Poland relations refers to foreign relations between Georgia and Poland. Both nations enjoy close and historically friendly relations, rooted in similar experiences, solidarity and shared struggles against foreign imperialism, especially that of Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Scouting, Warsaw</span> History museum in Warsaw, Poland

The Museum of Scouting is a museum in Warsaw, Poland, dedicated to the scout movement in Poland. Established in 2001, it contains displays relating to the history of Polish scouts and scouting. The goals of the museum are to collect and house items related to the history of Polish scouting and Scouting; disseminate information about the collections; evangelize the values of scouting and the educational principles of Scouting; and shape the values of those who come in contact with the collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefan Garwatowski</span> Polish painter (1931–2019)

Stefan Adam Garwatowski or Gerwatowski was a Polish painter. He was an alumnus of Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1956).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armored Weaponry Museum, Poznań</span> Museum division in Poznań, Poland

Muzeum Broni Pancernej Centrum Szkolenia Wojsk Lądowych im. Hetmana Polnego Koronnego Stefana Czarnieckiego w Poznaniu, abbreviated Muzeum Broni Pancernej CSWL is a large collection of military vehicles, formerly located within Land Forces Training Center in Poznań, Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armed Forces Day (Poland)</span> National holiday in Poland

Armed Forces Day, known also as the Feast of the Polish Armed Forces, is a national holiday celebrated annually on 15 August in Poland, commemorating the anniversary of the 1920 victory over Soviet Russia at the Battle of Warsaw during the Polish–Soviet War. Armed Forces Day is held in conjunction with the Day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, itself a separate public holiday. The event is marked by military parades, equipment reviews, showcases and remembrances by all branches of the Polish Armed Forces across the country. One of the most prominent events of the day is in the capital Warsaw, which hosts a large military parade through the city's center. Originally celebrated during the Second Republic, the holiday was barred by authorities during the communist era beginning in 1947, only to be revived again in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Guards (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth)</span>

The Royal Guards, also known as the Royal Foot Guards, were the royal guard units of the military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which existed from 1569 to 1795. Charged with the protection of Poland-Lithuania's royal family, they formed either part of the Polish Crown Army or the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, and fought in numerous conflicts Poland-Lithuania participated in during the early modern period. All Royal Guards units ceased to exist after Poland-Lithuania was dissolved in 1795 as a result of the Third Partition of Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Representative Regiment of the Polish Armed Forces</span> Military unit

The Representative Regiment of the Polish Armed Forces is an Honor Guard unit of the Polish Armed Forces, of regimental size. It performs public duties for the armed forces and the President of Poland throughout the Warsaw Capital Garrison region and acts as the main drill and ceremony unit for the military. It performs during the annual Armed Forces Day parade on Ujazdów Avenue, during state arrival ceremonies at the Presidential Palace and alongside other honor units at the National Independence Day ceremony. The regiment has been described by President Andrzej Duda as one of "the best-drilled and organised formations in the world".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Army Museum in Białystok</span> War museum in Kilińskiego Street, Bialystok

Army Museum in Białystok is a military museum located in Bialystok, the capital of Podlaskie Voivodeship in north-eastern Poland. It is the largest of its kind in that region. First opened in 1968, since 1976 it has been operating as an independent museum unit with a macro-regional range. It is currently a self-governing cultural institution of the city of Białystok. As part of the Army Museum, until the end of 2016, there was a Branch, the Siberian Memorial Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ujazdów, Warsaw</span> Neighbourhood in Warsaw, Poland

Ujazdów is a prominent neighbourhood situated in central Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It is the southernmost part of the Downtown (Śródmieście) district, next to Solec and historical Frascati. The main thoroughfare passing through the neighbourhood is Ujazdów Avenue; the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, the Foreign Ministry and the Belweder Palace are located on or in the vicinity of the street. Ujazdów is an affluent neighbourhood, with villas, palaces and parks comprising most of its area. The most notable landmarks are the Łazienki Park and Palace on the Isle, the 18th century summer residence of Poland's last monarch Stanisław II Augustus.

References

In-line:
  1. 1 2 3 "Museum of the Polish Army". eGuide / Treasures of Warsaw on-line. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  2. "Muzeum Wojska Polskiego". www.muzeumwp.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2008-06-21. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  3. "Museum of the Polish Army". www.culture.pl. Archived from the original on 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  4. 1 2 Małgorzata Omilanowska; Małgorzata Omilanowska; Jerzy Majewski (2000). Warszawa Przewodnik (in Polish). Warsaw: Wiedza i Życie. ISBN   83-7184-861-7.
  5. "Najcenniejsze zabytki". www.muzeumwp.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2008-06-01. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  6. "Sala broni wschodniej". www.muzeumwp.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  7. "Wystawy stałe". www.muzeumwp.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  8. "Polish Military Museum design competition". WBJ. 2008-12-15. Archived from the original on 2008-12-22. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
General:
  1. Małgorzata Omilanowska; Małgorzata Omilanowska; Jerzy Majewski (2000). Warszawa Przewodnik (in Polish). Warsaw: Wiedza i Życie. ISBN   83-7184-861-7.

Selected exhibition items

52°13′55″N21°1′33″E / 52.23194°N 21.02583°E / 52.23194; 21.02583