Muzeum Historii Pielęgniarstwa

What to expect

The Nursing History Museum occupies a single room on the seventh floor of the Warsaw Regional Chamber of Nurses and Midwives headquarters at 59 Zelazna Street. This is not a museum you stumble upon – you need to call ahead and arrange a visit. But if the history of Polish medicine from a rarely told perspective interests you, the effort pays off.

The centrepiece is the Florence Nightingale Medal Gallery – portraits and biographies of 103 Polish nurses honoured with the highest international nursing distinction between 1920 and 2017. First in the gallery: Maria Concetta Chludzinska, awarded in 1920. This is the only such comprehensive collection in Poland.

The second part features reconstructions: a period lecture hall, a treatment room with an impressive array of medical instruments – sterilisers, cupping glasses, diagnostic kits – and a patient ward equipped with early 20th-century gear. A mannequin wears the habit of a nursing sister. The whole collection draws from the Central Archive of Polish Nursing (named after Barbara Purtak), which holds over 20,000 archival units.

A separate section covers the Warsaw School of Nursing, founded in 1921 at 78 Koszykowa Street with American Red Cross support. Exhibits include the school brooch inscribed “Knowledge, Faith, Service, Fatherland,” entry books, correspondence of first director Helen Lillian Bridge, and state decorations awarded to graduates.

The physical museum opened on 25 January 2019, though the idea dates to 1993 and systematic collecting began in 1961. It is run by the Main Historical Commission of the Polish Nursing Society.

Tips

• Visits by appointment only – call 22 826 84 77 or email woipip@woipip.pl. Book a few days ahead.
• Museum Night (May, 16:00-22:00) is the one guaranteed open-access event. The museum has participated annually since 2022.
• Free entry.
• 7th floor in a modern office building with a lift – fully accessible.
• Guided visits are standard – archivists and Historical Commission members lead tours, giving them a personal narrative quality.
• Exhibits in Polish only. No English-language materials available.

Getting there

Metro: Rondo ONZ (M2) – 10 minutes walk south along Zelazna Street. Rondo Daszynskiego (M2) – 10 minutes east.

Tram: Rondo Daszynskiego or Hala Mirowska stops (trams 10, 11, 17, 33 on Jana Pawla II Avenue and Towarowa Street).

Bus: Lines 160, 178 – stops near Zelazna Street.

Nearby museums

Norblin Factory Museum (51/53 Zelazna Street, literally next door) – interactive industrial history in a restored 19th-century factory. Diving Museum (88 Grzybowska Street, 5 min walk) – Poland’s only diving museum, 900 artefacts, free entry. Warsaw Uprising Museum (79 Grzybowska Street, 15 min walk) – one of Poland’s most important history museums.