Enigma Cipher Centre

The Enigma Cipher Center (Centrum Szyfrów Enigma) in Poznań is an interactive exhibition about one of the great intelligence stories of World War II: how three young Polish mathematicians, Marian Rejewski, Henryk Zygalski and Jerzy Różycki, cracked the German Enigma machine years before Bletchley Park. It occupies the very building where their path began, on Święty Marcin Street in central Poznań (roughly "POZ-nahn"), western Poland. If you enjoy puzzles, codebreaking or WWII history, it is one of the top things to do in the city.

The story: from Poznań to Bletchley Park

In 1929 Polish military intelligence ran a secret cryptology course for mathematics students at Poznań University. The best of them went on to work in a Poznań branch of the Polish Cipher Bureau, housed in the cellars of the former Prussian military supply office on this site. At the end of 1932, by then in Warsaw, Rejewski broke the military Enigma using pure mathematics.

The Poles went on to build devices such as the cyclometer, the "bomba" and Zygalski sheets. In July 1939, weeks before Germany invaded Poland, they shared their methods and Enigma replicas with French and British intelligence at Pyry near Warsaw, giving a crucial head start to Alan Turing's team at Bletchley Park. Rejewski met Turing in January 1940.

The building itself has layered history: an 1847 Prussian administrative block, then the postwar Communist Party headquarters (1949–1950), then a university faculty. Renamed Collegium Martineum in 2015, it has housed the center since September 25, 2021. It is run by the city's Poznań Heritage Center.

What to see

The route leads from ancient secret writing through a codebreaking "course" modeled on the 1929 classes to computers and modern data security. Highlights include:

• Enigma machines on display, including a model K,
• reconstructions of the cyclometer, bomba and Zygalski sheets,
• hands-on stations where you encrypt and decrypt messages yourself, starting with the Caesar cipher,
• sections on women in cryptology and on early Polish computers,
• a media library for anyone who wants to go deeper.

Officially it is not a museum, since it focuses on interactive storytelling rather than a collection, which is exactly why kids and teens tend to love it.

Planning your visit

The basic route takes about 1.5 hours; doing all the puzzles can take up to 3 hours (the center suggests about 2). Entry is by timed ticket every 15 minutes, in groups of up to 15, and last entry is one hour before closing, so book online for weekends.

A free audio guide is available in English, German, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian, with audio-described, easy-read and Polish Sign Language versions. Bring your own wired headphones with a 3.5 mm jack if you like. Photography is allowed.

The exhibition is fully accessible, with a quiet room (also usable for feeding or changing a baby), noise-reducing headphones and tactile graphics. Quiet hours run on the first Thursday of each month, 4–6 p.m., with dimmed lights and no group tours. Visitors with strollers should use the courtyard elevator, reached through the gate on Kościuszki Street. There is a cloakroom and a gift shop but no café.

Tickets and opening hours

As of October 2026:

• Tuesday–Friday 9 a.m.–6 p.m., Saturday–Sunday 10 a.m.–7 p.m., closed Mondays and on holidays such as November 1 and December 24–26 and 31,
• adults PLN 35, reduced PLN 29, family PLN 75 (up to five people, max. two adults),
• free for children under 6 and for carers of visitors with disabilities.

Buy tickets online (bilety.pcd.poznan.pl) or at the desk. Contact: +48 61 888 45 12, kontakt@csenigma.pl.

Getting there and nearby

The center is at the corner of Święty Marcin and Kościuszki streets, a 15-minute walk from Poznań Główny station and the Old Market Square. Poznań is about 2.5–3 hours from Berlin and roughly 2.5 hours from Warsaw by train, and Poznań Ławica Airport is a short taxi ride away. The nearest bus stop is "Zamek" (about 200 m). Drivers will find paid parking at Plac Wolności and Rondo Kaponiera; the street is in a paid parking zone.

Right next door is the Imperial Castle, built for Kaiser Wilhelm II, with a monument to the three codebreakers in front. On nearby Adam Mickiewicz Square stands the memorial to the June 1956 workers' uprising. From there it is an easy walk to the Old Market Square and the Royal Castle.

Is it worth visiting?

Absolutely, especially for families and anyone who has seen "The Imitation Game" and wants the Polish side of the story.