Invisible Exhibition

What to expect

This is not a museum and you will not see a thing - literally. The Invisible Exhibition is a permanent experience you walk through in complete darkness: about 60 minutes through rooms staged as everyday scenes, in a group of at most 8 people. The guides are blind or visually impaired, and that is the whole point. For an hour they are the ones at home, and you learn to rely on hearing, touch and their voice.

The dark walk is followed by a roughly 10-minute “visible” section. The Warsaw venue has been running since 2011 and is part of a franchise with sister exhibitions in Budapest and Prague. Groups enter roughly every 15 minutes, so treat the time on your ticket seriously.

Phones and glowing watches go into lockers before you enter - not a single light source is allowed inside. Tours run in Polish by default; English-, Russian- and Italian-speaking guides are available if you arrange one in advance by email.

Tips

• Book online for a specific time slot. Entry is in small groups roughly every 15 minutes, so walking up without a booking can mean a wait.
• Prices: weekdays 45 PLN full, 40 PLN reduced, 37 PLN group rate (20+ tickets and under-18 groups); weekends and holidays 50/45/40 PLN. Family ticket (max 2 adults + 3 children under 16): 150 PLN (€35) weekdays, 160 PLN (€37) weekends.
• Blind visitors with a significant disability certificate enter free; moderate pays the group rate, mild the reduced rate.
• Ages 9 and up. Younger children are not admitted - an hour of total darkness is too much for them.
• Last group enters at 19:00. In July and August the weekday opening moves to 12:00.
• Wheelchairs: the route is not adapted; narrow wheelchairs up to 55 cm wide only, arranged in advance by email.
• Group bookings are taken by email only: info@niewidzialna.pl.
• Allow about 70-90 minutes including the briefing before you go in.

Getting there

Address: Atlas Tower shopping arcade, 1st floor, Al. Jerozolimskie 123a - the high-rise at Plac Zawiszy, on the south side of Aleje Jerozolimskie, west of the city centre.

Tram: Plac Zawiszy stop - lines running along Aleje Jerozolimskie, Grójecka and Towarowa stop right outside.

Train: Warszawa Ochota station (SKM city rail and WKD) is a few minutes on foot. From Warszawa Centralna it is about a 15-minute walk along Aleje Jerozolimskie.

Bus: stops at Plac Zawiszy and along Aleje Jerozolimskie.

Car: parking garage in the Atlas Tower building; street parking around it is a paid zone.

Nearby: the Station Museum on Towarowa street, the Warsaw Fotoplastikon on Aleje Jerozolimskie and the Warsaw Uprising Museum in Wola.