One of the most important museum investments in the country is underway in the historic complex of the former Bersohn and Bauman Hospital at Sienna and Slippery Streets in Warsaw. The Museum of the Warsaw Ghetto is being built at a site with a rich and dramatic history, and is scheduled to open in 2026. The project is a combination of the conservation of historic buildings and the construction of modern exhibition and educational spaces. The cost of the project is estimated at more than PLN 323 million.
Assumptions and design of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum
The new institution will occupy an area of approximately 11,500 square metres, of which more than 3,000 square metres is dedicated to the permanent exhibition. The complex will also include an Education Centre in the former Ophthalmology Pavilion, an auditorium with 150 seats, temporary exhibition spaces, collection storage areas, as well as a library and bookshop. Some of the buildings will be connected by underground passages. The architectural design was prepared by Jerzy Wowczak’s Authorial Design Studio.
History of the Bersohn and Bauman Hospital
The Bersohn and Bauman Hospital was built between 1876 and 1878 on the initiative of two Warsaw families. Its aim was to provide free medical care for children regardless of their origin. The facility operated until the Second World War, and in the Warsaw Ghetto it became one of the most important places to fight for life. After the war, the building served various medical institutions, and until 2014 it housed the Provincial Infectious Diseases Hospital. Today, the history of the hospital forms an integral part of the narrative of the museum exhibition being prepared.
Construction and conservation work on Sienna Street in Warsaw
Works began in October 2023 and, according to the contract, are expected to last 30 months. Their scope includes both the construction of new buildings and the conservation of historic walls and facades. In the former part of the hospital, the striking staircase will be preserved and the historic half-dome topped with copper cladding will be restored over the bay window. During the works, wartime finds were encountered, including grenades and ammunition, as well as a 19th-century well.
The main building in 2022 and today. Photo: Google Maps and WhiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Work progressing on the construction of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum
There is clear progress on the construction site. In the underground section, the essential reinforced concrete work for erecting walls and ceilings has already been completed, and new buildings have sprung up on the site. In the historic buildings, meanwhile, structural and conservation work is being carried out on the walls, ceilings and façade renovation. The shell of the technical building has been completed and installation of the steel roof structures, which will be clad in patinated copper, has begun. A freight car has also appeared on the site, which will become part of the exhibition in the future.
The future exhibition of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum
The tour has been planned to lead from the top floors of the former hospital to the underground, where the most dramatic threads of the ghetto’s history will be presented. Exhibits will include the original ‘Stroop Report’ and a chest from the Ringelblum Archive. The exhibition will show the daily, religious and cultural life of Warsaw’s Jewish community and the fate of the hospital, which symbolically reflects the history of Jews in Poland from the late 19th century to the post-war years.
Source: materials of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum
Read also: Architecture | Renovation | Monument | History | Museum | Warsaw
