European Solidarity Centre

What to expect

The European Solidarity Centre (Europejskie Centrum Solidarności, ECS) in Gdansk is a large permanent exhibition in a building that is itself open to everyone: you can go inside without a ticket and buy one only for the exhibition. This arrangement lets you look into the ECS for a moment before you decide on a full visit.

The permanent exhibition fills almost 3,000 m² on the first and second floors of the building. It is divided into seven rooms and shows almost 1800 objects. Among them are the boards with the 21 Demands (Tablice 21 Postulatów), inscribed on the list of UNESCO’s international “Memory of the World” programme.

The audio guide is included in the ticket price and comes in 11 language versions, from Polish and English to Belarusian, Ukrainian and Norwegian. Alongside the permanent exhibition there is the separately ticketed exhibition STOCZNIA (The Shipyard), with its own audio-guide path.

Visitors rate the ECS highly: on Google Maps it has 4.8 out of 5 from 10,518 reviews (read on 25 October 2026).

Who it suits: anyone who wants to see the 21 Demands boards and the nearly 1800 objects of the permanent exhibition up close and has at least two hours for it. It is also a good place for visitors from abroad, because the audio guide speaks 11 languages, and for families, for whom the museum has prepared a separate family path in Polish, English and Ukrainian.

Who should skip it: someone who has only an hour in Gdansk between trains. The museum says that visitors spend 2 hours on average in the permanent exhibition, and even the short version of the audio guide takes an hour and a half. In that case it is better just to look into the building, which you can enter without a ticket.

How long: allow at least 2 hours, because that is how long visitors spend here on average. With the full adult version of the audio guide, reckon on 2.5 to 3 hours instead. If you also want to see the STOCZNIA exhibition, add about 45 minutes, since that is how long its basic path takes.

Tips

• Check ticket availability. Hourly entry limits apply to the permanent exhibition. If you do not have an online ticket, the museum advises checking availability by phone (number in the practical box) before buying at the desk, especially in summer.
• Choose your audio-guide version. The full adult version takes 2.5 to 3 hours, the short one an hour and a half, and the family path about an hour and a half. The museum offers the short version and the family path in fewer languages than the full one.
• Technical day for the exhibitions. From October to April the exhibitions have a technical day once a week: closed on Tuesdays; from May to September they are open every day. The building is open on the technical day, so that day is good at most for a look inside, not for visiting the exhibition.
• The viewing terrace depends on the weather. The museum opens the viewing terrace when the weather allows. In bad weather, do not plan your visit around the view from the top.
• Family ticket and reductions. The family ticket is for parents or carers with children up to the age of 19, in 2+1 and 2+2 or 2+3 packages. Reduced tickets are available to, among others, pupils, students up to the age of 26, doctoral students up to the age of 35 and seniors over 65. Prices for the permanent exhibition: standard ticket 40 PLN (about 9 EUR), reduced 35 PLN (about 8 EUR).
• Discount cards. Holders of the Large Family Card (Karta Dużej Rodziny) and the Metropolitan Culture Card (Metropolitalna Karta do Kultury) pay less than the normal and reduced prices, and the Gdańsk Resident Card (Gdańska Karta Mieszkańca) gives one ticket per calendar year. Take the card with you to the desk.
• Step-free access. The main entrance has automatic doors and no threshold, and the exhibition floors are connected by stairs and lifts. At the desks you can borrow one of two adult wheelchairs without booking, and room E has a tactile relief graphic. For people with hearing impairments there is a path in Polish Sign Language.

Getting there

• Address: Plac Solidarności 1, 80-863 Gdańsk.
• Tram: the museum directs visitors to the stop at Pl. Solidarności, about 150 m from the ECS. According to the ZTM Gdańsk timetable, the stops “Plac Solidarności 01” (about 138 m) and “Plac Solidarności 02” (about 151 m) are served by trams 2, 3, 7 and 8.
• Bus: the museum names the stop “Europejskie Centrum Solidarności”, about 150 m from the entrance; according to ZTM Gdańsk, line 130 stops at “Europejskie Centrum Solidarności 02” (about 154 m). More lines stop at “Jana z Kolna 01” (about 247 m) and “Plac Solidarności 04” (about 253 m).
• Rail: from Gdańsk Główny station (SKM, PR, PKM, PKP) the museum gives 700 m, about 9 minutes on foot, and warns that there are steps on the way. There are also steps on the routes from the stops at the railway station (Dworzec PKP) and at the Oliwa Gate (Brama Oliwska).
• By bike: there are 16 bicycle racks in front of the main entrance and another 8 in the car park; right by the ECS there are two MEVO city-bike stations.
• By car: under the building there is an underground car park with 280 spaces, entered from ul. Nowomiejska, with a maximum vehicle height of 2 m. You pay for parking at the machine before leaving, by card only.

Nearby

Three museums that are easy to add to a visit to the ECS (distances as the crow flies):

• Hevelianum , ul. Gradowa 6 - about 720 m. It stands on the site of the former Gradowa Hill fort (Fort Góry Gradowej), behind the main railway and bus station, so it suits a day when you arrive by train at Gdańsk Główny.
• Museum of Amber , Wielkie Młyny 16 - about 820 m. It is housed in the Great Mill (Wielki Młyn), and the museum gives about 2 hours for a visit, as the ECS does, so together they make a plan for most of the day.
• Museum of the Polish Post Office , plac Obrońców Poczty Polskiej 1/2 - about 860 m. It tells the story of the Polish Post Office in the Free City of Danzig, and the museum gives at least 30 minutes for a visit, so it fits in after the ECS on the same day.

Background

The building you enter today without a ticket was designed by the Polish practice FORT Architects; its design won an international competition announced in 2007, seven years before the centre opened in 2014.

Sources differ on the opening date: the Polish Wikipedia gives 30 August 2014, the English one 31 August 2014. A report by the portal trojmiasto.pl of 30 August 2014 explains the difference: on that day crowds of visitors were already in the centre, while the official opening, with a visit by President Bronisław Komorowski, was planned for the following day. The portal also wrote that on the day of the official opening, at least before noon, the ECS would not be open to visitors. So both dates in the encyclopedias are true; they just describe two different events: the first day for visitors and the ceremonial opening.