Home Army Museum in Kraków

Under the glass roof of a former Kraków Fortress building hangs the fuselage of a British Halifax bomber, with a V-2 rocket standing nearby. The General Emil Fieldorf "Nil" Home Army Museum tells the story of the Polish Underground State and its army, the Armia Krajowa (AK) – the largest resistance army in occupied Europe – in a building that is a landmark in its own right.

The museum's history

Veterans of the World Association of Home Army Soldiers began collecting objects in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1992 the exhibition moved into a building erected in 1911 as a command post of the Austrian Kraków Fortress. The museum was formally established in 2000 and named after Kraków-born General August Emil Fieldorf "Nil", head of the AK's sabotage directorate (Kedyw) and deputy commander-in-chief.

In 2009–2011 the building was remodelled by the studio AIR Jurkowscy Architekci; the biggest change was covering the courtyard with a glass roof. The project won the Brick Award, among others, and was nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award. The permanent exhibition opened on 27 September 2012.

What to see

• Ground floor – interwar Poland, the September 1939 campaign and everyday life under German and Soviet occupation. Highlights are a Vickers E tank rebuilt from original parts of two tanks destroyed in 1939, and Tadeusz Kantor's collage "September 1939".
• Basement – the main exhibition on the structure and operations of the AK, Operation Tempest and the fate of soldiers after the army was disbanded. It includes reconstructions of a Handley Page Halifax bomber fuselage, the type that dropped supplies to the underground, and a V-2 rocket, plus a recreated communist secret-police cell.
• Martyrdom – a section on the Katyn massacre and the persecution of AK soldiers after 1944.
• Collections – more than 8,000 items, including the uniform of General Tadeusz Komorowski "Bór", memorabilia of General Fieldorf, banners, decorations, weapons (some home-made in secret) and underground newspapers.

Interesting facts

Almost the entire collection consists of donations from veterans and their families, often along with the personal story behind each object. The glass-covered courtyard also serves as a concert hall and a venue for talks with historians.

Tripto tip

The museum is at 12 Wita Stwosza Street, less than a kilometre from the Barbican. It is open 10:00–17:00, closed on Mondays; Kraków Tourist Card holders enter free. Check current ticket prices on the museum's website. Allow 2–2.5 hours – the basement exhibition is large and full of multimedia. Some sections, especially on repression, may be hard going for younger children.