ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the recent development of national museums in Poland and set this development in the context of two centuries of struggle. It reveals how particular types and styles of cultural heritage have acquired national significance and how different kinds of museum are now being produced. The chapter begins by discussing the period when much of Western Europe gained its museum infrastructure; a period when Poland existed only as a memory. A large number of the museums developed in and about Poland over the last two centuries have sought to preserve the memories of a nation. Following the integration of Poland into the European Union (EU), a wave of new museum projects and architectural competitions swept the nation. Poland escaped the Communist era possessing national museums, of which some were city cultural history museums displaying Polish national art and historical artefacts mainly of their regions. The Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw reflects external influence.
