Get your first look at Warsaw’s new museum to ‘anti-fascism’

Polish architects have revealed their latest plans to take over the former site of Warsaw’s Pawiak Prison.

The new building, hailed as a museum to “anti-fascism”, will sit in the heart of the capital, close to the border of what was once the Warsaw Ghetto. Built in 1836, the Pawiak Prison was once a detention centre for up to 1,000 female inmates, but rose to infamy in the Second World War as a base of operations for the Gestapo. An estimated 100,000 people were detained there during the war, with 37,000 murdered and more than 60,000 relocated to concentration camps.

Architects leading the project from Poland’s FAAB Architektura have pledged to create a site that will “challenge the consciousness of visitors as they confront history itself.”

The building’s facade will create long, dark shadows, its dimensions mirroring that of the original prison building, which was destroyed in the closing chapters of the Second World War.

The lower half of the building will be multi-faceted and distorted to represent the history of oppression and violence that rises from the very ground. Further up however, the form changes: a show of strength and a symbol of human courage and resilience.