Guardhouse No. 1 at Westerplatte (Branch of the Museum of Gdansk)

What to expect

Guardhouse No. 1 at Westerplatte is a small, seasonal branch of the Museum of Gdansk, in the building that was the main point of the Polish defence of the peninsula in September 1939. You visit one modest building, not a sprawling museum: the pomorskie.travel portal notes that it is precisely this small scale that gives the visit its special character.

The museum names Major Henryk Sucharski’s sabre and uniform jacket as its most valuable exhibits. The zwiedzajwpolsce.pl portal describes the Guardhouse as a small building of great historical importance, where the interiors, the defenders’ keepsakes and the exhibition help you understand September 1939.

The visit does not end at the door. By the Guardhouse begins the promenade to the mound raised in the 1960s with the Monument to the Defenders of the Coast, and opposite stands the inscription “Nigdy więcej wojny” (Never again war). The Guardhouse is therefore a natural starting point for a walk around the peninsula rather than a destination in its own right.

Who it suits: teachers, and parents with children - the podrozezklasa.pl portal recommends the Guardhouse as an educational place for children and young people. Also anyone heading to Westerplatte who wants to step inside the building that was the main point of the defence, not just look around the grounds.

Who should skip it: wheelchair users, because according to the museum the branch is not accessible to them, and the main entrance is narrow. Skip it too if you are after a large exhibition to fill an afternoon: this is one small building. Out of season, do not make the trip just for the Guardhouse, as the branch is closed then.

How long: the museum says a visit to the Guardhouse takes at least 20 minutes. Add to that the walk along the promenade to the monument, which starts right next to the building.

Tips

• Only in season. According to the museum: open seasonally from April to September, closed during the winter season. The 2027 season opening date is neither on the museum’s website nor on the branch’s Facebook page, so check it in spring before you set off.
• Confirm the hours by phone. The museum does not publish its in-season opening hours; only tourist portals such as pomorskie.travel and podrozezklasa.pl give them. Before your visit, call the Guardhouse (+48 58 343 69 72, a number active in the summer season only) or the Museum of Gdansk visitor services (+48 789-015-097, kontakt@muzeumgdansk.pl).
• Do not leave it until the end of the day. The ticket desk stops selling tickets before the branch closes, so if you arrive late you may no longer get in.
• Reduced ticket with an ID. The reduced ticket (5 PLN (about 1 EUR)) is available to pupils, students, pensioners and disability pensioners on a valid ID. As a seasonally open branch, the Guardhouse is excluded from the day on which the branches of the Museum of Gdansk let visitors in without a ticket.
• Sound-dampening headphones at the desk. At the ticket desk you can borrow sound-dampening headphones for adults and for children. The branch page also has a description of the Guardhouse in easy-to-read text (PDF) and in Polish Sign Language.
• Photos without flash. You may photograph the exhibits without a flash, and taking photographs outdoors on the Westerplatte peninsula is at no charge.

Getting there

• Address: Majora Henryka Sucharskiego, 80-601 Gdańsk, on the Westerplatte peninsula; the museum gives no building number.
• Bus: according to the ZTM Gdańsk timetable, the nearest stops are “Muzeum Westerplatte - Terminal Promowy 01” (about 529 m in a straight line; line 138, while line 106 only sets passengers down) and “Muzeum Westerplatte - Terminal Promowy 02” (about 544 m; lines 106 and 138).
• Tram: in the same timetable, the “Nowy Port Oliwska 01” stop lies about 502 m from the Guardhouse and “Przychodnia 01” about 584 m; both are served by lines 2, 3, 5 and 7.
• From the centre: according to the ZTM timetable, lines 106 and 138, which stop at Westerplatte, also serve the “Jana z Kolna 01” stop by the European Solidarity Centre, so from the ECS area you can get here without changing.
• Mind the distances: all the distances given are straight-line distances, not the length of the walking route, which the timetable does not give. Check the walking route from your chosen stop on a map before you set off.

Nearby

Straight-line distances from the Guardhouse:

• Gdansk Nowy Port Lighthouse, ul. Przemysłowa 6a, 80-542 Gdańsk - about 950 m. According to the lighthouse’s website, from its top you can see the port of Gdansk, Westerplatte and the Gulf of Gdansk, which makes it a good complement to a visit to the peninsula.
• European Solidarity Centre, Plac Solidarności 1, 80-863 Gdańsk - about 5.3 km. According to the ZTM timetable, lines 106 and 138, which run to Westerplatte, also stop at “Jana z Kolna 01”, about 247 m from the ECS, so a single bus links the two visits.
• Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, pl. Władysława Bartoszewskiego 1, 80-862 Gdańsk - about 5.7 km. The institution was founded in 2008 as the Westerplatte Museum, and today it runs a separate branch on the peninsula with its own opening hours; the Guardhouse belongs to a different museum, the Museum of Gdansk.

Background

The building you walk into does not stand on its original site. Guardhouse No. 1 is one of six guardhouses built at Westerplatte in the 1930s; in 1967 it was moved to its present spot, which saved it from demolition. The museum and Polish Wikipedia agree on this.

According to the museum, four reinforced-concrete guardhouses were built here in 1933-1934 to better secure the depot grounds, followed two years later by a barracks building. English Wikipedia states that Guardhouse No. 1 was built in 1934 and survives intact to this day.

The exhibition dates back to June 1974, when the Nowy Port circle of ZBoWiD (the Polish veterans’ association) set up a Memorial Room inside. In 1980 it was turned into the branch of the Museum of Gdansk that operates to this day.

Sources differ on who commanded the crew of this defence post: the museum names warrant officer Jan Gryczman, Polish Wikipedia platoon sergeant Piotr Buder.