Museum of the Polish Post Office (Museum of Gdansk branch)

What to expect

The Museum of the Polish Post Office in Gdansk occupies the Polish Post Office building from the days of the Free City of Danzig and tells the story of its defence on 1 September 1939 in the very place where the fighting took place. It is a branch of the Museum of Gdansk (Muzeum Gdańska), reopened on 5 October 2026 after 15 months of work.

The exhibition shows the course of the fighting and the fate of the defenders and, alongside them, how the post office used to work and everyday life in the Free City of Danzig. According to Trojmiasto.pl, the new exhibition is twice the size of the previous one, and its most important new feature is the cellars: about 230 square metres to which visitors previously had no access. The building also has a cinema room.

On Google Maps the museum has 4.5 out of 5 from 1418 reviews (read on 25 October 2026). The oldest of the 200 most recent reviews is about two years old, so the more than 1200 others were written well before the current exhibition. The average therefore speaks mainly of the museum as it was before the rebuild.

Who it suits: anyone interested in September 1939, in Gdansk in the days of the Free City or in the history of the post office itself, because the exhibition weaves these three threads together. Who should think twice: sensitive visitors. The museum warns that the exhibition contains content that may cause strong emotions, and that minors may visit it only in the care of a parent or legal guardian. With children, the decision is therefore yours; noise-cancelling headphones can be borrowed on site, including in children’s sizes.

How long: the museum gives at least 30 minutes. Treat that as a minimum: the exhibition is twice the size of the old one, the cellars have been added, and the museum’s app guides you through the exhibition with audio recordings, photos and maps. With the app, plan on closer to an hour.

Tips

• Free-entry day. The museum has one such day a week: free admission on Mondays. The opening hours that day are the same as on the other days, so there is no need to rush.
• Prices and concessions. Prices: standard ticket 15 PLN (about 3 EUR), reduced 10 PLN (about 2 EUR). A reduced ticket is available to pupils, students and old-age and disability pensioners with a valid ID. A family ticket (at most two adults and six children) and a pass valid for 90 days are priced separately in the museum’s price list (linked in the practical information box).
• Do not leave it to the last minute. The ticket desk sells tickets only up to a set time before the branch closes, and the visit takes at least half an hour. So arrive no later than an hour before closing time.
• Go down to the cellars. The cellars, about 230 square metres, are open to visitors for the first time, and Trojmiasto.pl calls them the most important new feature of the exhibition. If you know the museum from before the rebuild, this is where you will see the most that is new.
• The app in English too. The museum’s mobile app guides you through the permanent exhibition with audio material, photos, maps and texts. It has visiting routes in Polish and English, audio description and material in Polish Sign Language, so it is useful for visitors from abroad as well.
• Accessibility. The entrance from the courtyard side leads to the lift, and on level 0 there are toilets adapted for people with disabilities. The ticket desk has an induction loop and the cinema room a perimeter loop, the building has three tactile plans, and a walking frame, crutches and magnifiers can be borrowed on site. The museum’s Google Maps card also lists a wheelchair-accessible entrance.
• This branch’s own notices. The Museum of Gdansk announces changes to opening hours separately for each branch, and the Museum of the Polish Post Office does not always share them with the others: at the end of October 2026 it was open on days when the other branches were closed. Before a visit on a public holiday, check the notice in the tab of this particular branch.

Getting there

The distances to the stops given below are measured in a straight line from the museum, based on ZTM Gdańsk data.

• Address: plac Obrońców Poczty Polskiej 1/2, 80-800 Gdańsk.
• Line 100: the closest stops are “Targ Rybny 01” (about 182 m) and “Katarzynki 01” (about 233 m), with “Heweliusza 01” (about 332 m) a little further away; all of them are served by line 100.
• Lines 130 and 208: the stops “Muzeum II Wojny Światowej 01” (about 290 m) and “Muzeum II Wojny Światowej 02” (about 302 m) are served by lines 130 and 208.

Background

The building on plac Obrońców Poczty Polskiej (Defenders of the Polish Post Office Square) is today both the seat of Poczta Polska (the Polish Post) in Gdansk and a museum. The name of the square recalls what happened here on 1 September 1939.

The Polish Post Office operated in the Free City of Danzig from 1920 to 1939, and the museum tells above all the story of its defence. According to Trojmiasto.pl, the reopening on 5 October 2026 fell exactly on the 87th anniversary of the shooting of 38 defenders of the Polish Post Office by the Germans, that is, the anniversary of the execution of 5 October 1939.

The museum itself was founded in 1979 as a branch of the Museum of Post and Telecommunications in Wrocław, and since 2003 it has been a branch of the Museum of Gdansk. The rebuild completed in 2026 is therefore another chapter for an institution that has existed for more than 45 years.