The display the process of the city’s reconstruction from the ruins of World War II, with a focus on "how the ruins were transformed into rubble, and rubble into building material."
According to the museum's website, Warsaw 1945-1949: Rising from Rubble is the first exhibition about the postwar reconstruction of Warsaw in which "rubble constitutes the narrative core."
The museum says: “We show fragments of sculptures and architecture, stove tiles and ceramics as well as materials used in the process of reconstruction: demolition bricks and rubble concrete. Photographs, graphic art, paintings, documents, maps, iconography as well as film newsreels and oral history video recordings place these exhibits in their historical context.”
Exhibition curator Adam Przywara told Poland's PAP news agency that when World War II ended in 1945 Warsaw was covered by 22 million cubic metres of rubble.
“Initially, it was seen as waste material that needed to be removed, but because of its sheer size this proved impossible," he said. "It came to be regarded therefore as raw material to be recovered and used in the production of new building materials, such as aggregate and crushed-brick concrete."
The exhibition shows the various stages of Warsaw’s reconstruction, including the demolition of severely damaged houses, the cleaning up of the debris, and the transport of bricks from Wrocław, Szczecin and other cities in western Poland.
The exhibition runs until September 3.
For more details, go to muzeumwarszawy.pl.
(mk/gs)