info@its-poland.com
8 Kolobrzeska, Bydgoszcz, Poland
It would be a cliché to say that Poland is a fast growing country. Nevertheless, it is true both for the whole economy and for tourism as well. Recent years have brought us a huge growth of the tourist hotel base. Majority of the big international hotel chains are already present in all bigger agglomerations and new hotels are being constantly opened in all tourist destinations. Thanks to better local management and the use of European Community Development Founds the new transport infrastructure and new tourist attractions appear very quickly. This is why people who tend to return to Poland in a few years’ time space are usually very surprised how much is changing. This is why in this article we want to present to you top 10 new attractions in Poland from ITS-Poland perspective.

 

Top 10 new attractions in Poland

  1. WWII Museum in Gdansk
  2. European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk
  3. Emigration Museum in Gdynia
  4. Hydropolis in Wroclaw
  5. Africarium in Wroclaw
  6. POLIN Museum in Warsaw
  7. Copercincus House in Torun
  8. Energylandia in Zator
  9. EC1 in Lodz
  10. Arsenal Museum in Zamosc

 

WWII Museum in Gdansk

World War II began with Germany’s attack on Poland at the Polish military base at Westerplatte on September 1, 1939 and it’s therefore, appropriate that the remarkable WWII museum (Polish: Muzeum II Wojny Światowej), opened in March 2017, should have been built in Gdańsk. A conflict that claimed the lives of an estimated 55 million people is a both a huge and complicated story to tell. The museum grounds cover almost 2.5 acres, while the building covers 26,000 square meters. In total there are over 2,000 exhibits on display spread over three narrative blocks: ‘The Road to War’, ‘The Horrors of War’, and ‘The War’s Long Shadow’. This is divided into 18 thematic sections, which is reflected in the layout of the exhibition rooms. Sightseeing of the museum takes at least 3 h.


European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk

The exhibition and the newly built museum are really impressive. The museum chambers are filled in with historic exhibits, modern multimedia equipment and artistic installations all about Polish aspirations to be a free country at the end of the 20th century. It is not a quiet place as while walking from exhibit to exhibit we can hear real historic recordings. The museum has seven main chambers at two floors of the new building. Sightseeing takes about 2h.


Emigration Museum in Gdynia

The Museum of Emigration in Gdynia (Polish: Muzeum Emigracji w Gdynii) was opened in 2015. It is located in the historic maritime station at 1 Polska Street. Since 1933 the building was used to serve the emigrant movement and it was the place from where hundreds of thousands people started their journey into the wide world. The museum exhibition tells the story of emigration from Polish lands since 19th century until current times. The modern, multimedia exhibition shows the scale of Polish emigration and highlights the value and role of Polish Diaspora around the world. Thanks to the exposition, viewers will have the opportunity to make a journey across time and continents to see how everyday life looked like and where people travelled. The museum is also an archive of emigrant stories, more than 200 life testimonies were gathered from famous and also ordinary Polish emigrants. The museum has also already gathered 4000 objects connected to the topic. The museum area is almost 6 thousand square meters. Among other museum attractions there are a cinema, book store, restaurant and café, all in unique, industrial scenery of the maritime station.


Hydropolis in Wroclaw

Hydropolis is a high-tech multimedia museum dedicated to water. Divided into eight thematic parts and started off with a short 360-degree film which takes you from the Big Bang to nucleosynthesis to the formation of planets to the origin of Earth's aqua, Hydropolis is a friendly-for-all-ages discovery zone where visitors can peek at creatures found in a drop of water, spin an Archimedes' screw, sit in a replica of the Trieste bathyscaphe, which made a descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 1960, or kick back in the sea-sounds-and-bioluminescent-jellyfish relaxation space. Informative and impressively designed, this is one experience we wholeheartedly recommend.


Africarium in Wroclaw

Africarium is a part of Wrocław zoo. It was opened in 2014. It is the first oceanarium in Poland and the only one in the world that is devoted to fauna and flora of only one continent. The name of the unit came from coinage of two words Africa and aquarium giving a huge insight into what the whole enterprise is about. Giving some basic numbers, Africarium has 15 000 000 litres of water, there are 21 pools and aquariums where visitors can admire over 350 species of fish. The place on average is visited by 2.5 thousand of people a day. People can admire here for example turtles, tortoises, fish, manats, hippopotamuses, patoideas, sharks, penguins, crocodiles and many other species from Africa. The most interesting moments are feeding shows. It is good to check the exact hours before the visit to be at a good place at a right time. An entrance ticket allows you to see not only Africarium complex but also the whole Wrocław zoo. Sightseeing of Africarium takes about 1.5 to 2 h but if you have more time, you can sped entire day in the whole zoo complex.


POLIN Museum in Warsaw

Museum of the History of Polish Jews is a new, ultramodern cultural museum on the map of Warsaw. It is situated at 6 Mordechaja Danielewicza Street in the place which was former Jewish district and also later on Warsaw Ghetto. The museum is a place dedicated to all those who are interested in heritage of Polish Jews and it is a symbol of breakthrough in Polish-Jewish relations during 1000 years history from Medieval times up till now. It is a place of meetings of people who want to know the past and current Jewish culture. The interactive exhibition was opened in October 2014 which means that it is one of the newest museums in the capital. The exhibition has 8 galleries of 4 200 m2 common area. These include: Forest (legends about beginning of Jews in Poland), First meetings (960-1500), Paradisus ludaeorum (1597-1648), Town (1648-1772), Modern Challenges (1772-1914), At Jewish street (1918-1939), Holocaust (1939-1945) and Postwar Period (1944 up till now). The galleries include 73 multimedia stands, 120 multimedia passive stands, 170 historic exhibits and 200 copies and models. The museum can be visited by 800 guests at a time. POLIN is an impressive modern museum which you really must see during your visit in Warsaw.


Copernicus House in Torun

It is a complex of two historic Gothic tenement houses which belonged to the Copernicus family in the second half of the 15th century. It is considered by many historians to be the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus. Nowadays, it is a place of modern science museum commemorating this late Medieval scholar. The exhibitions present the great astronomer and his achievements. The museum combines the most recent multimedia technologies and historical tissue of a medieval house. Visitors can admire a modern multimedia interactive exhibition using the greatest achievements of the contemporary museum science, namely smartphone applications allowing visitors to extend their knowledge about the exhibition, an audio guide in three language versions (Polish, English and German) and audio description, extended reality, 4D cinema with films about astronomy, history of the universe, great scientific discoveries, the Medieval city of Toruń, holograms or visual displays. One of the most interesting things in the museum is an exceptional Medieval roof truss open to visitors. From there visitors can admire a show with starry skies, as it is there that young Nicolaus saw starts for the first time. The architecture of the 15th-century Gothic house and historical objects also made it possible to restore the reality of everyday life of middle-class families in interiors of a late Medieval household. Numerous objects, including, in particular, those showing material culture and customs of middle-class families from Toruń originate from archaeological excavations in the Old and New City of Toruń. Copernicus House Museum is a must while visiting Toruń.


Energylandia in Zator

EnergyLandia Park is located in the town of Zator less than a half hour drive from Katowice or Kraków. EnergyLandia is the first full-fledged Amusement Park in Poland, which offers its clients world class, highest quality services for all ages: children, teenagers and adults. The park is a place where parents do not need to watch their kids. Instead, they can enjoy their time playing together and spend it on a journey to the land of fairy tales and fantasy—the world of magical and incredible experiences. It is a huge complex with an enormous area of 35 hectares, which includes over 30 various modern and advanced devices and attractions, starting from the extreme ones, through family ones, up to those for the kids. All of them are presented using themed, stylised decorations and arrangements, which together create a complete, audiovisual set prepared for each individual device. It is very important, that in EnergyLandia you only need to buy one ticket to be able to use all devices and attractions as much as you wish and without any limitations.


EC1 in Lodz

EC1 Lodz – City of Culture (Polish: EC1 Łódź – Miasto Kultury) is a cultural institution run by the City of Łódź and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. The revitalized and expanded EC1 complex performs cultural, artistic and educational functions. At the same time, it is an important element of the New Center of Łódź, combining architectural trends from the beginning of the last century and the modern post-industrial trend. On January 8, 2016, in the EC1 East building, a planetarium was opened - the most modern in Poland and one of the most modern in Europe. In the western part of the EC1 complex, visitors can find the largest Science and Technology Center in Poland with a spherical 3D cinema. The eastern part of the EC1 complex is the seat of another department - the National Center for Film Culture. It will be a central cultural and educational center in Poland and unique in this part of Europe for people interested in the world of film and cinematography. Another department of "EC1 Łódź - City of Culture" in Łódź is the Łódź Film Commission - a unit that provides filmmakers with comprehensive assistance: from searching for film sets to support in obtaining permits necessary for the implementation of a film project. The last section of "EC1 Łódź - City of Culture" in Łódź is the Center for Comics and Interactive Narration. The idea of this center is to familiarize visitors with comic art and interactive narrative issues.


Arsenal Museum in Zamosc

Thanks to the fortifications built at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, Zamosc was one of the most protected fortresses in the country. Tsar Alexander II ordered the fortifications to be demolished in 1866, but luckily the task wasn’t completed. The survivors include extensions (Polish Nadszaniec), arsenal and rotunda. The preserved parts of the fortress have been restored and are tourist attractions. Museum of Fortifications and Weapons "Arsenal" exhibitions are divided into three places: the Arsenal, the former Powder Magazine and the Pavilion under the Curtain. The most interesting one is Powder Magazine as it uses the new technologies. During the multimedia 3D screening, you can watch all the wars and skirmishes that took place in Zamość. Modern mapping in a completely darkened room takes you back to the times of Jan Zamoyski, and then guides you through the centuries, showing the history of battles, town fires and military victories.

 

We feel really privileged to see such positive changes occurring in Poland after many years of stagnation and its earlier turbulent past. Poland has become a country really worth to be discovered and these above examples are just a fraction of attractions awaiting in this country in the heart of Europe. Huge number of sites has been modernised, rebuilt or redecorated in the recent years so Polish villages, towns and cities become prettier with every passing day. We heartily recommend visiting Poland and if you need any help with your trip planning or organisation, feel free to contact ITS DMC Poland professional group specialists. Let's start your Polish adventure together!


Author: Agnieszka Szwedzińska

Date 25.03.2021