The Home Army Museum in Cracow named after general Emil Fieldorf "Nil" is the only such institution in Poland promoting knowledge about the Polish Underground Movement and its armed forces.
It was established in 2000 as a local self-government unit to popularize the culture of Cracow and Malopolska Region.
The formal establishment of the Home Army Museum was preceded by a ten-year effort of collecting the historical items of the Home Army Veterans.
So far, the Museum brought together nearly 7000 exhibits and more than 12000 archives - mostly gifts of Army Soldiers and their families around the world - historical memorabilia, often with tenor of relics. The library resources reach about 11500 volumes.
The exhibitions organized in the Museum and else where only in 2011 were visited by nearly 100 000 people, not including the participants of the events, conferences, lectures, readings, museum lessons and demonstrations of historical weapons and soldiers equipment.
The idea behind the Army Museum is to provide a holistic picture of the Polish underground, its spiritual origins and the shape of patriotic heritage to the present day. Therefore in 2005 announced and settled an international architectural competition.
Then the winner - AIR JURKOWSCY-ARCHITECTS Office owned by Ryszard Jurkowski, the President of Union of Polish Architects - worked out the restoration project of the historic residence of the Museum and its adaptation to the needs of the museum.
Construction works carried out by Chemobudowa - Kraków S.A. were completed in autumn 2011. All venture cost around 30 million zlotys (7,5 million euro) of which 85% came from the European Union, and the remainder partfrom self-governments of Cracow and Malopolska Region (each gave the half).
As a result of restoration and adaptation the building area increased from 1300 m2 to 6500 m2, and the volume of a modern museum building is approximately 25 000 m3.
Currently, consortium DEKO-BAU and Technology Centre of Anti-burglary carries the permanent exhibition, which is scheduled to open on September 27th, 2012 - Day of the Polish Underground Movement.
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