Museum of Life Under Communism

Warsaw


This small, privately run museum, devoted to the communist period in Poland's history, has found its spiritual home situated over a KFC and overlooking socialist realist Plac Konstytucji. There's a year-by-year timeline and a focus on different aspects of the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL) from politics to fashion. It's all attractively laid out and, by Warsaw standards, not too overwhelming to digest.

Transportation

  • tram: Plac Konstytucji

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Warsaw attractions

1. Volleyball Player Neon

0.07 MILES

Perhaps Warsaw's most iconic neon is this animation of a girl throwing a volleyball, designed by Jan Mucharski in 1960 and hanging off the corner of a…

2. Plac Konstytucji

0.08 MILES

Completed in 1952, this expansive square is the centrepiece of the Marszałkowska Residential District (MDM). Although contemporary shopfronts, commercial…

3. Church of the Holy Redeemer

0.28 MILES

Finished in 1911, this elegant church borrows from both the Renaissance and baroque periods. Demolished by the German occupiers during WWII, it was…

4. St Alexander's Church

0.45 MILES

Destroyed during WWII, this church was rebuilt to its original early-19th-century design inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Inside, look to the left of the…

5. Mausoleum of Struggle & Martyrdom

0.48 MILES

Once used by the Gestapo for interrogation, torture and murder, this building now stands as a memorial to the thousands of Poles who passed through its…

6. Fotoplastikon

0.51 MILES

Photography enthusiasts will be thrilled by this late-19th-century contraption. Reputedly the last working example of its kind in Europe, it consists of a…

7. Sejm of the Republic of Poland

0.51 MILES

Apply online or by phone at least a week in advance to arrange a tour around Poland's national parliament, the Sejm. You will need to bring some form of…

8. Open Jazdów

0.52 MILES

A pleasant spot to hang out is this charming wooded enclave in the heart of Warsaw. The colony of some 20-odd Finnish wooden cottages have been here since…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "poland/warsaw/lazienki-park-southern-srodmiescie/attractions/museum-of-life-under-communism/a/poi-sig/1616155/1342663",
      "destination": "Warsaw",
      "continent": "Europe",
      "country": "Poland",
      "city": "Warsaw",
      "position": "superzone"
    }