Museum of Warsaw

The Museum of Warsaw occupies eleven connected tenement houses on the Old Town Market Square and displays more than 7,000 objects documenting the capital's development. The rooms are organized by historical periods and themes showing how different parts of the city and daily life evolved.

It was founded in 1936 as part of the National Museum and survived severe damage during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The institution reopened in 1948 after the war and has since become the main repository of the city's memories.

The collection shows how Varsovians lived across generations, with everyday objects, photographs, and documents that reveal local crafts and trade traditions. You can see how the city changed through social transformations reflected in these daily-life materials.

The museum sits on the Old Town Market Square and is easily reached on foot from nearby streets. Weekdays tend to be quieter than weekends, making for a more comfortable visit.

During renovations in 2010, workers discovered a hidden treasure of over 1,200 coins from the 17th and 18th centuries in the basement. This discovery revealed details about the trade wealth and economic history of the square during earlier times.