The Museum will be a place of remembrance and documentation of the Katyń massacre. It will also perform an educational role, bringing individual stories of the victims closer to the visitors, aiming at developing their historical awareness in the context of European and world politics.

The new location of the Museum has been prepared since 2010, when the competition results for the spatial and substantive design of the building and surroundings of the caponier were announced. In line with the winning concept, the two-storey exhibition space is going to combine the symbolism of the place with modern means of communication. The narrative of the exhibition is being told on two levels – by sharing factual knowledge of the circumstances of the Katyń massacre in the “Discovery” section and by inciting emotional empathy in the “Testimony” zone. The second part of the story is focused on victims and their testimonies, which is why this space is complemented by diaries and notes of the murdered, found during the exhumation. The author of artistic design is Jerzy Kalina – a sculptor, creator of theatre and film set designs, as well as animations and documentaries.

New Amsterdam has teamed up with Cube ITG S.A. to provide multimedia equipment for the permanent exhibition. We worked on the concepts and development of multimedia presentations, projections, films and animations presented at the main exhibition. The Katyń Museum is equipped with 48 multimedia stations in the form of presentations, interactive maps and timelines controlled by touch. The exposition also is making use of unconventional projects such as sound installations and animations invoking the Katyń Forest, as well as presenting the comparison of the faces of the victims with their perpetrators. We were also responsible for the acquisition and assembly of iconographic material, i.e. archival photographs and documents presented in a traditional way.

The official opening of the new premises of the Katyń Museum took place on 17 September 2015. It will be opened for the public from 3 October 2015. The estimated cost of the investment is PLN 87.5 million.