Muzeum II Wojny Światowej, Gdańsk

Muzeum II Wojny Światowej is Gdańsk’s museum devoted to the Second World War. The building’s tilted glass tower rises forty metres above the museum and holds a library, reading spaces, meeting rooms, and places to eat with views across Gdańsk. Kwadrat, an architectural studio from Gdynia, won the building competition, and work on the structure began in two thousand twelve.

Its design divides the museum into three symbolic zones that join the past, the present, and the future. The institution itself began in two thousand eight, while its exhibitions welcomed visitors in two thousand seventeen. That story belongs particularly strongly in Gdańsk: the historic Polish Post Office nearby was among the places where the war began.

Near the entrance, the statue of Witold Pilecki shows the cavalry captain in uniform, holding his camp cap. The monument was unveiled in September two thousand nineteen and designed by Maciej Jagodziński-Jagennmerr. Together, the dramatic tower and this intensely personal memorial prepare you for a museum that approaches war through both vast history and individual lives.