Explore 7 Gdańsk Museums Spotlighting History and Culture

Gdańsk is a city known for its resilient history and modern creativity. It's all revealed through the diverse museums Gdańsk is celebrated for, from art exhibits and ornate buildings to artefacts and interactive installations. It's also good to know that many of the best museums in Gdańsk are open on Sundays, and that most have free days each week. The day to enjoy free entry varies depending on the museum. Discover more about seven world-class institutions that tell the story of the city.

Explore the European Solidarity Centre (ECS) to uncover the story of Solidarity, a Polish trade union that evolved into a broader social movement, which was decisive in ending Communist rule in Poland. The movement emerged as the result of a strike at the Gdańsk Lenin Shipyard in August 1980, when workers wrote their demands on a board at the shipyard gates. This board is now on display, and the museum describes the "Board of the 21 Demands" as its most treasured exhibit.
 

Other exhibitions in the museum reveal how such movements eventually paved the way for freedom, through various immersive methods that include interactive installations, video presentations and photo archives. If you get a chance, bring your binoculars and head up to the ECS rooftop for spectacular views of the historic shipyard and the Old Town. The striking exterior of the ECS building is noteworthy too: winners of a design competition created ochre-coloured panels that evoke the rusting hulls of ships.

• pl. Solidarności 1, 80-863 Gdańsk
• Permanent exhibition open 10am–7pm Mon–Fri, 10am–8pm Sat & Sun (May to September) and 10am–5pm Mon, Wed–Fri, 10am–6pm Sat & Sun (October to April)
• Audio guides are available

Set 14 metres underground, this major museum's main exhibition tells the Polish story of the war through three narrative sections: "The Road to War", "The Terror of War" and "The Long Shadow of War". Special details like interactive and virtual reality exhibits really make the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk worth visiting. There's also an area called "Time Travel" aimed at children, which displays how a Warsaw family apartment would have evolved over the course of the war.
 

This is one of the larger museums Gdańsk has to offer (the main exhibition is one of the largest historical exhibitions in the world), so it's worth scheduling in a few hours if that suits your itinerary. If you have time, you could even catch a film at the museum cinema.

• pl. Władysława Bartoszewskiego 1, 80-862 Gdańsk
• Open 10am–4pm Tue, 10am–4pm Wed–Sun (September to June) and 10am–4pm Tue, 10am–8pm Wed–Sun (July and August)
• Audio guides are available
• Free on Tuesdays

The National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk is actually a collection of exhibitions in several places. The main exhibition is located on Ołowianka Island in the Motława River and is housed in three historic granaries. Here, curators take you on a voyage through the history of Polish maritime heritage and Baltic seafaring from centuries ago to modern times. Just steps away, the SS Sołdek is a ship museum on a retired coal and ore steamship.
 

Ołowianka Island is just a 15-minute walk from the Old Town, so as you stroll back towards your Gdańsk hotel, take in the 15th-century crane that was both a city gate and port crane during Gdańsk's golden age of maritime trade. See the intriguing operating mechanism and browse exhibits on maritime life in medieval times. You can also take the museum's ferry service to the crane.

• Ołowianka 9–13, 80-751 Gdańsk
• Opening hours vary by branch
• Audio guides are available at selected branches
• Free on Wednesdays (some branches)

Make your way to a small island in the Raduni Canal and encounter the Amber Museum, housed in one of the city's most storied buildings. The red-brick Great Mill (Wielki Młyn) was built by the Teutonic Knights around 1350 and was the largest medieval mill in Europe. Inside the walls, discover how Gdańsk came to be known as the amber capital of the world, turning this fossilised tree resin into jewellery and utensils over many centuries. In fact, local people sometimes still discover small pieces of amber on Gdańsk beaches.
 

In this unique museum, shining amber furniture, ornaments and even an amber guitar take on an alluring appearance against sleek black backdrops. After a day of exploring, stroll less than five minutes back to Hotel Mercure Gdańsk Stare Miasto for a drink in the sunroom of the Winestone Bar and a good night's sleep.

• Wielkie Młyny 16, 80-849 Gdańsk
• Open 10am–6pm (closed Tuesdays)
• Free on Mondays

Follow the cobbled streets of the Old Town to Artus Court, named after the mythological British leader, King Arthur. Fittingly, inside the museum's Gothic hall, you'll find works of art and sculpture relating to myths and legends in Europe, from ancient times and on through the Middle Ages. One of the highlights of the museum is an 11-metre-high stove decorated with more than 500 exquisitely colourful and ornate tiles depicting historical European leaders.
 

Artus Court is next to the iconic Neptune's Fountain, and the building's elegant white façade adorned with statues is unmistakable. In medieval Gdańsk, this was a meeting place for merchants and a centre of communal life in the city, and Henry IV of England is said to have paid a visit. As you browse the exhibits, take a moment to imagine voices and laughter echoing off the walls during social gatherings during the Middle Ages. Want to stay somewhere equally exclusive? Sofitel Grand Sopot is a five-star spa hotel with a private beach.

• Długi Targ 43/44, 80-831 Gdańsk
• Open 10am–4pm Fri–Wed, 10am–6pm Thurs

Directly opposite Artus Court, this museum provides another opportunity to observe breathtakingly ornate interiors. Ceiling art framed by intricate decoration once impressed Polish kings who visited this Gothic and Renaissance building, which was the home of the city authorities from the mid-1400s until 1921. Today, thanks to meticulous conservation and restoration, the same opulent décor remains to be enjoyed when you gaze upwards in the Red Room. In summer, climb up to the top of the tower to take in panoramic views of Gdańsk.

• Długa 46/47, 80-831 Gdańsk
• Open 10am–4pm Fri–Wed, 10am–6pm Thurs (tower open seasonally)
• Audio guides are available
• Free on Mondays

Delve into the contemporary culture of the city at NOMUS - New Art Museum, a lesser-known hidden gem among things to do in Gdańsk. A branch of the National Museum in Gdańsk, this museum of modern art is nestled in a former workshop in the historic shipyards. Along with exhibition rooms, there's a library, a bookshop and a sensory play area for children. You might even catch a film screening on the ground floor.

The eclectic exhibits take the form of paintings, sculptures and garments, as well as distinctive installations that immediately draw the eye. Guided tours in English are sometimes offered to help visitors become more deeply immersed in the diverse range of exhibitions.

• NOMUS – New Art Museum, ul. Stefana Jaracza 14, 80-862 Gdańsk
• Open 11pm–6pm Tue–Sun
• Tickets cost 15 PLN (€3.50) for adults, with some concessions available
• Free on Fridays

Along with the history and culture unveiled in Gdańsk museums, there's nightlife, gastronomy and the rugged Baltic coast to discover, so start planning your trip now!