The Polish Army Museum, Warsaw

Architecture: WXCA Architectural Design Studio
Text: György Szegő
Photos: Marcin Czehowicz

The Polish Army Museum, now completed in the still Tsarist Citadel in Warsaw, was founded in 1920 by Marshal Józef Piłsudski, the first head of state of the Second Polish Republic, at the beginning of the Polish state revival. However, the institution never had a building of its own to house its rich collection of material, which also symbolised the struggles of Polish history. Today the collection contains 300 000 items. The museum’s contemporary architecture, now over a century old, hosts permanent and temporary exhibitions as well as thematic cultural events. The return of the citadel to the city and the Polish nation was a priority. The city-scale concept of the plan recalls the Northern and Southern Barracks of the Polish Infantry Guard from the independent times before the Tsarist fortress. The new Museum of Polish History moved into the North Wing this autumn, while the central square in front of the South Wing is dominated by the recently completed main building of the Polish Army Museum. The abandoned fortress has become a historical and architectural landmark, and together with the earlier Katýn Memorial House, one of the largest museum complexes in Europe has been created on a 32-hectare site.

Architects: Szczepan Wroński, Marta Sękulska Wrońska, Paweł Grodzicki, Krzysztof Budzisz, Paweł Wolanin, Krystian Tomczyk, Katarzyna Billik, Ewelina Szeląg, Anna Dobek, Kajetan Szostok, Małgorzata Gilarska, Michał Grabowski, Barbara Płonczyńska, Marcin Jurusik, Marcin Bieńka, Adrianna Nowak, Małgorzata Dębowska, Andrzej Bulanda – WXCA Architectural Design Studio
Structure: Buro Happold
MEP engineering: Buro Happold