You can find museums in every major city, but the ones you find in Warsaw are exceptional and you won’t find anything like them anywhere else in the world. When visiting Poland’s capital, be sure to make time to visit at least two of the ones on our list. Let’s take a look!
Polish Wodka Museum
t is located in the building of the former Warsaw vodka factory Koneser from the 19th century. In the interwar period, the recipes for such famous Polish vodkas as Wyborowa and Luksusowa were created here. Here you will learn about the more than 500-year history of Poland’s most famous alcohol, the development of its production technology, and the traditions and customs associated with it. By visiting five interactive galleries, you will learn, among other things, where the first distilleries in Poland were established, how much a glass of vodka used to cost and how it was consumed in Polish courts, as well as the origins of customs such as ‘strzemienny’ or ‘bruderszaft’.
You can put together your own recipe for liqueur and get to know the scheme of Jan Pistorius’ distillation apparatus. His invention revolutionized 19th-century distilling by making it possible to obtain pure alcohol at 85% in a single process. It also houses a collection of original bottles from various periods, including a full, never-opened bottle of J. A. Baczewski from the 1940s.
The highlight of your visit will be a tasting at the Vodka Academy, where the flavors of vodka made from rye, wheat, and potatoes are compared under the guidance of an expert. Visitors will also find a restaurant with tables set above the historic furnaces of the former factory, a bar with Polish vodka-based drinks, and a 24-hour bistro.
Centrum Nauki Kopernik
A true paradise for science lovers and not only for children! In this museum you will discover the mysteries of nature and physics, you can try out different experiments and have fun at the same time! In this museum you won’t need a guide, everyone feels like an explorer and discoverer.
You can do experiments all by yourself and gradually discover how your senses influence your perception of the world.
You can test your body’s ability to perceive light, colors, and various illusions. In the experiment zone, you will find more than a hundred exhibits that will help you understand phenomena related to electricity or radio waves.
You’ll also find innovations that will soon be part of everyday household life. You can also see for yourself how artificial intelligence thinks and whether humanity is ready to hand over some of its responsibilities to robots.
In one of the halls, you will also find an autonomous vehicle or learn how in-depth forgery or modern photomontage works.
National Museum in Warsaw
The museum houses a magnificent collection of paintings, sculptures, and handicrafts from all periods, from antiquity to the present day. Masterpieces of Polish and world art are presented in themed galleries.
Inside the Faras Gallery, you’ll see Europe’s largest collection of Nubian art from the 8th to 14th centuries, including a unique collection of murals. They come from the flooded Christian cathedral in Faras, Sudan, and depict divine figures, dignitaries, and saints.
Authentic 15th century altars from different regions of Poland, Gothic statues, and paintings for private prayers are housed in the Gallery of Medieval Art. If you want to understand the role of art in the past, this is something just for you.
The picture shows the work “The Battle of Grunwald” by Jan Matejka. It is the largest Polish painting, with a canvas of almost 40 m2 (4.26 x 9.87 m).
In the 19th century art gallery you will admire the most important works of Polish artists exhibited in the context of European works.
The Fryderik Chopin Museum
Fryderyk Chopin is one of Warsaw’s most famous citizens – which is why his museum could not be missing in the Polish capital. Located in the historic Ostrogski Palace, it is one of the most modern biographical museums in Europe. Thanks to the exhibits and multimedia gathered here, you can learn about the composer’s life and work. You will learn all about his childhood and youth spent in Warsaw, as well as his life in exile.
You will see letters, drawings, dedications, or visiting cards. You will see portraits taken during the composer’s lifetime, a cast of his hand, his death mask, and priceless relics: a gold watch given to the 10-year-old artist in recognition of his talent, a candy box, a keyring with his initials, corset pins and the priceless Pleyel piano on which the composer played for the last two years of his life.
Looking at musical sketches, sheet music, or, finally, manuscripts of finished compositions, you get an insight into the artist’s creative process. And all this in an interesting, interactive way. In front of the palace, you will find a fountain with the Golden Duck – the heroine of one of Warsaw’s legends, which we will talk about another time.
