Naval Museum in Gdynia

The Naval Museum in Gdynia (Muzeum Marynarki Wojennej) is Poland's main museum of naval history, set on the seaside boulevard opposite the city beach. Inside a modern building you'll find a multimedia exhibition on a century of the Polish Navy, an armory and historic ship models; outside there is an open-air display of naval guns and torpedoes and a real submarine, ORP Sokół, you can climb aboard. The museum also runs the famous WWII destroyer ORP Błyskawica at Kościuszko Square.

History

The museum was founded on June 28, 1953, first in an old villa by the beach, with coastal guns and weapons salvaged from Polish warships displayed outside. From 1960 the destroyer ORP Burza served as a museum ship at Kościuszko Square, drawing more than 3.7 million visitors in 15 years, before ORP Błyskawica took over in 1976. The current building, shared with the Gdynia City Museum, opened on November 28, 2012.

What to see

• "We Have Orders to Hold You…" – a modern permanent exhibition opened in 2018 for the Navy's centenary, named after Józef Piłsudski's order of November 28, 1918, creating the Polish Navy.
• The Armory – original 20th-century naval weapons, mostly taken from Polish warships.
• "In the World of Old Sailing Ships" – models tracing ship design from the late Middle Ages.
• Halifax Monument – an exhibition on the Polish navy and merchant navy in the Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1945).
• ORP Sokół – a Kobben-class submarine built in Germany for Norway, in Polish service from 2002 and open to visitors since March 2025. Ten people go aboard at a time; the interior tour takes about 15 minutes.
• The open-air exhibition – including a 152 mm Bofors gun from the Laskowski coastal battery and the only surviving German BT 1000 rocket-propelled bomb-torpedo.

Visiting tips

Allow 1.5–2 hours for the museum and open-air display, plus 30 minutes for ORP Sokół. The Movi Guide audio app offers a standard route, a family route, audio description and Polish Sign Language video. The building is fully wheelchair accessible, with an elevator to all floors, an accessible restroom and a wheelchair to borrow; assistance dogs are welcome. A temporary exhibition for young children follows "a monkey who wanted to become an admiral." Is it worth visiting? Yes – it is engaging for both adults and kids and gives the best context for ORP Błyskawica, which is closed until March 31, 2027.

Opening hours and tickets (as of October 2026)

• Main building: Tuesday–Sunday 10 am–4 pm from October to December (May–September 10 am–6 pm); closed Mondays; last entry 45 minutes before closing.
• Closed on October 27–28, 2026.
• ORP Sokół: October–November 10 am–4 pm; closed December 1–26; December 27–February 10 am–2 pm.
• Tickets: 30 PLN regular, 15 PLN reduced, 75 PLN family (2+2); ORP Sokół 20/15 PLN. Free admission to the museum on Fridays. English-language guided tours for groups cost 220 PLN.
• Online tickets are sold only from March 1 to October 31; otherwise buy at the desk.
• Address: ul. Zawiszy Czarnego 1B; phone +48 58 620 13 81.

How to get there

The museum is on the seaside boulevard, about 25 minutes on foot from Gdynia Główna station and about 700 m from the Skwer Kościuszki – InfoBox bus stop. Gdańsk is about 30 minutes away by SKM train, and Gdańsk airport (around 23 km) has PKM trains to Gdynia Główna. Accessible parking is on Sędzickiego Street by the Musical Theater.