Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum - London

Joanna Gaska

Polska perełka na mapie Londynu. Absolutny "must be" dla każdego Polaka i turysty odwiedzającego Londyn. Szczególne podziękowania dla pana Marka za profesjonalną obsługę przewodnicką. Przepiękna kolekcja muzealna. Wejście darmowe ale donacja mile widziana.
Gorąco polecam to miejsce!

Matt Clarkson

Honestly outstanding. Free with a donation of your choice at the end. It is a guided tour of around an hour and a half and this was time that was very well spent. They have a frankly incredible set of artefacts from the better known photos of Wojtek the bear alongside military pennants of him and a statue. There were also not surprisingly a lot of artefacts relating to General Sikorski including very sadly his military uniform alongside his daughter's from the tragic plane crash off Gibraltar in 1943. Yet such artefacts are only just scratching the surface. The boots given to him by Stalin so that he would leave the USSR quickly were really fascinating.

There were so many attractions which our amazing guide Hugo so skillfully brought to life. He was an absolute gentleman to both myself and my teenage daughter and amazingly well informed. Learning about the real life Polish WW2 Heroine was a treat. She escaped the Gestapo by biting her lip so hard it bled profusely that they believed she had tuberculosis. She was the inspiration for Vesper Lind of James Bond fame who was tragically killed by a jealous lover after the war.

Other highlights included seeing the saddle Napoleon himself used as well as the Polish battle standard which flew over Monte Casino and discovering the two parts of it were discovered years apart. Discovering the ingenuity of the Poles during WW2 was really interesting. I didn't realise they invented by the mine sweeper and the tank periscope. Amazing that the collection also included cutlery rescued from the trainees officers mess in Warsaw and deemed of sufficient importance to ship to Britain early on in the war.

But my favourite three exhibits related to details I knew nothing about until our visit. Hats off to Hugo for his vivid and insightful explanations here.

There was the submarine of which they had a model which escaped Poland at the start of WW2 only to be impounded in Tallinn, Estonia. Its navigational equipment was destroyed before the crew sailed all the way to Rossyth in Scotland aided only by a map hand drawn from memory, which was in the museum. Incredible stuff.

Secondly there was the propeller of a plane a Polish pilot had removed from his plane to disable it in Fascist Spain lest it fall into the hands of the Nazis. He had taken it all the way to Britain with him.

Finally there was a shirt collar with writing on it. This contained essentially the last will and testament of a Polish pilot who crashed into the English channel. He had written a last letter to his wife on it, but in fact survived being rescued after around 85 hours, which was a record at the time. It was summer which probably saved his life.

I absolutely loved this museum. Amazing place with a brilliant guide. I would strongly recommend this museum to anyone with even the vaguest interest in any of its themes as they are so well brought to life.

It is not necessary to buy tickets, but I would let them know either by email or phone that you are coming, so that they can arrange a guide.

POLSKI HUSARZ

Pełna nazwa: Instytut Polski - Muzeum gen. Władysława Sikorskiego.
Muzeum z zewnątrz wygląda bardzo skromnie i jest utrzymywane tylko przez Polonię. Nie mają dopłat ani od Rządu RP, ani od Rządu Wielkiej Brytanii. Skromność muzeum na zewnątrz nie odzwierciedla tego co jest w środku, czyli bogatej liczby artefaktów i różnych eksponatów oraz ekspozycji poświęconych głównie II WŚ i polskiej historii. Dodam, że może to być raj dla historyków, gdyż muzeum zawiera archiwum, a w nim dokumenty mierzone w kilometrach.

Jason's Phone

An absolutely incredible place. Jaw dropping. The history, determination and valour is palpable.
It's somewhere anyone should visit if they want to learn about Polish military history and their part in Poland's struggle to survive, and their campaigns across Europe and Africa.
Unfortunately this place is open only on the first Saturday (?) of the month, but it's probably best to check before going.
They're staffed by volunteers.
If you want to know who Poles really are, come and visit. My tour took two hours. Tours are available in English, and obviously in Polish.

AGNIESZKA „pacaag“

Fantastyczne miejsce pełne historycznych pamiątek z czasów 2 wojny nasycone duchem minionych lat w opowiadaniach wolontariusza przewodnika. Rekwizyty w postaci mundurów, odznaczeń np. Gen. Bora Komorowskiego, biurka gen. Andersa i gen. Sikorskiego pozostałości i eksponaty po działaniach polskich wojsk na obczyźnie. Miejsce patriotyczne i wzbogacając naszą historię. Obowiazkowa wizyta dla kazdego Polaka.

J Karvajalka

Ważny, choć niewielki punkt na mapie wielkiego miasta. Strzępki polskiej historii, czesto uratowane dzięki przypadkowi. Warto tu zajrzeć.

Marcin Dalibor

Instytut Sikorskiego to jedno z tych miejsc, w które każdy polak powinien iść. Zawiera kawał histori Polski a przewodnik, Pan Chriss Nowakowski zawsze chętnie każdego oprowadzi i z wieloma ciekawostkami przybliży losy wojenne polaków

Dorota Limontas

Genialne miejsce! Będąc w Londynie warto zajechać i zobaczyć kawał polskiej historii. Zbiory wręcz powalają, podobnie jak przewodnik i jego historie!