Home to nearly 150,000 people Wola is that great big district to the west of the centre, and this museum is here to document Wola’s history from 1374 till the present. Run as a branch of the Historical Museum of Warsaw, the museum comes housed in a grey looking neo-renaissance palace dating from 1880, with the building indelibly printed in the (mis)fortunes of the district; it’s here that the 3rd company of Chrobry II division of the Home Army (Poland’s underground military movement) held their headquarters during the days of the Warsaw Uprising. Operating as a museum since 1974 the collection here features over 5,000 film, cultural and propaganda posters, and a huge collection of posh pre-war silverware that includes a caviar box made by Schiffers and weird looking forks for scoffing crabs. Life before 1939 is documented well through a series of black and white photos showing Wola before it was raped by Dirlewanger (see Warsaw Uprising section), as well as busts and portraits of the fat cat industrialists who once lived here.
The war changed Wola forever, and these times are remembered by way of photographs of the Ghetto, as well as bits and pieces donated by veterans of the Warsaw Uprising; among these find personal papers, medals, helmets, radios and sketches of post-Uprising incarceration.

Open 09:00 - 17:00, Tue 09:00 - 19:00, Sat, Sun 10:00 - 18:00. Closed Mon. Admission 8/4zł, Thu free. Guided tour 50zł.