100 years of Polish independence: museum launched

Polish President Andrzej Duda on Thursday opened a Polish “Independence Museum” in Warsaw.

The new, mobile museum will focus on the changes and achievements in Poland over the 100 years since it regained independence.

At the inauguration ceremony of the museum, President Duda said that Poland's independence was achieved thanks to the struggle of people from different backgrounds who together aspired to an independent and free Poland.

“It shows that independence was regained thanks to the cooperation between people who very often had different views, but one common goal. They wanted a free, independent and sovereign Poland back on the European and world maps. They wanted for us to get out from under occupation and have the state they were all dreaming of,” said Duda.

The interactive exhibition presents some of the most prominent figures in the struggle for Polish independence, including Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Józef Piłsudski, Roman Dmowski and many others. 

Visitors can watch videos charting the progress of Poland over the last 100 years, including some of the country's most outstanding achievements in the fields of sport, science, medicine and culture.

The exhibition will sit outside the presidential palace until Friday, before traveling all over Poland to 56 different cities. 

President Duda expressed his hope that many young Poles would visit the travelling exhibition to learn about Poland's history, its struggle for independence after being occupied and partitioned several times throughout history, and about Poland's achievements over the last century.

"The exhibition is short but very interesting and modern. Visiting the exhibition will be an opportunity to remind young and old of how much we should be proud of our homeland – the way that it was, the way it is now and how it will be," he said. 

"All these are presented in an attractive and extremely modern way. I would like the Polish youth to see what the Poles have discovered and what are the wonderful inventions of the things we use every day."