Westerplatte Archaeological Exhibition
Westerplatte Archaeological Exhibition
Museum of the Second World War
There are places whose history is quite literally hidden beneath our feet. In the historic building of the former power plant on Westerplatte, we designed (detailed design) and produced the exhibition “Pamięć w ziemi zapisana. Archeologia Westerplatte”. It is a unique exhibition that builds a narrative about one of the most important places in Polish history based solely on authentic artifacts unearthed during many years of excavations.
A story found in artifacts
Our team's task was to create a space that would allow the objects found on the peninsula by archaeologists since 2016 to speak. The exhibition takes visitors through a broad time frame – from the mid-17th century, when a sandbar formed at the mouth of the Vistula, to mid-1941, when the branch of the German Stutthof camp operating there was closed down.
In the narrative we designed, the main emphasis was placed on showing the everyday life and the difficult tasks faced by the garrison of the Military Transit Depot in the extremely tense socio-political reality before the outbreak of the Second World War.
A modern exhibition in a historic fabric
The place where the artifacts are presented is no accident. The exhibition has been harmoniously integrated into the interiors of the restored building of the former WST power plant. When designing the exhibition, we made sure that modern forms of presentation would not overwhelm the historic architecture, but would harmonize with the austere character of the place where the Second World War began.
The grand opening of the exhibition in April 2025, combined with the opening of the new Visitor Service Center and numerous educational events, was for us the culmination of our work on this extremely important historical project.