Museum of the Polish Army ( pl, Muzeum Wojska Polskiego) is a museum in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

documenting the

military history Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians no ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. Established in 1920 under the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

, it occupies a wing of the building of the

Polish National Museum "National Museum of Poland" is the common name for several of the country's largest and most notable museums. Poland's National Museum comprises several independent branches, each operating a number of smaller museums. The main branch is the Natio ...

as well as several branches in Poland. It is Warsaw's second largest museum and the largest collection of military objects in Poland. The collection illustrates a thousand years of Polish military history, from the 10th century to the Second World War.

Establishment

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.

Collections

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 The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, and the national uprisings of 1830-31 and 1863. 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 A hussar ( , ; hu, huszár, pl, husarz, sh, husar / ) was a member of a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely ...

' armour. 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 Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, the Crimean Tatar Khanate, Mongolia and Japan. 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. 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.

Permanent exhibitions

* Polish Armed Forces in the Middle Ages * Polish Army at the Time of Renaissance * History of the Old Polish Military: 1576-1648 * Polish Army in the Second Half of the 17th Century * Polish Army in Saxon Times * Polish Army at the Time of the Enlightenment and the Kosciuszko Rising * Polish Legions in Italy and the Army of the Dukedom of Warsaw * The Army of the Kingdom of Poland and the November 1831 Rising * The January 1863 Rising * Polish Paramilitary Organisations of the Early 20th Century * The Roads to Independence: 1914-45 * The Polish Army: 1921-39 * Poland's Defence War of 1939 * The Armed Struggle in the Occupied Country: 1939-47 * Polish Army in the East: 1943-45 * UN Peace Missions of the Polish Army. 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 A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

located in Warsaw's

Żoliborz 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 War ...

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.

References

:In-line: :General: #

Selected exhibition items

File:Zbroja 1514.JPG, ''Polish plate armour, circa 1514'' File:Battle of Grochów 1831.JPG, '' Battle of Grochów, 1831'' File:Warsaw 280mm mortar 01.JPG, ''French

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Mortier de 280 modele 1914 Schneider'' File:PZL I-22 Iryda.jpg, '' PZL I-22 Iryda light attack jet trainer'' File:Polisharmymuseum6 DSC1353.JPG, TKS Polish tankette during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. File:MWP Sokol 600.JPG, Polish Sokół 600 motorcycle File:D-44 Polish Army Museum.jpg, D-44 Field gun

External links

*
Muzeum Wojska Polskiego
{{Authority control Museums established in 1920 Museums in Warsaw 1920 establishments in Poland Army museums in Europe Military and war museums in Poland Registered museums in Poland Armour collections