Wroclaw Contemporary Museum

What to expect

Wroclaw Contemporary Museum is a museum in which the first exhibit is the building itself: the exhibitions are housed in a round, free-standing air-raid shelter from 1942 on plac Strzegomski. The museum has been based there since 2011.

Permanent and temporary exhibitions fill the floors from the ground floor up to level 5, and a viewing terrace has been laid out on the roof of the shelter. Stairs and a lift lead to every level, so the visit becomes a vertical route through the whole building.

Two sources describe the building’s design and what makes it unique. The museum states that the shelter was designed by the well-known Wroclaw architect Richard Konwiarz, and the Polish Wikipedia calls it the only museum in Poland housed in an above-ground air-raid shelter. On Google Maps it has a rating of 4.2 out of 5 from 1812 reviews (read on 25 October 2026).

Who it suits: anyone curious about the work of contemporary artists - in 2016 the museum hosted a residency in the A-i-R Wro cycle, in which Artur Żmijewski worked with invited artists. It will also draw lovers of 20th-century architecture, for whom the shelter itself is a reason to visit. For families, the visit is made easier by the family ticket, a baby changing table on level 5 and a lift that takes a pushchair.

Who should skip it: anyone looking above all for the history of the city. Here the leading roles go to the museum’s exhibitions and the building itself, while the whole post-war history of Wroclaw and Lower Silesia is told by the main exhibition of the Depot History Centre (Centrum Historii Zajezdnia).

How long: the museum does not state a visiting time. With floors from the ground floor to level 5 and the climb to the terrace, a sensible budget is about an hour and a half; that is also how long the museum lesson lasts that the museum offers to the youngest groups and primary-school pupils.

Tips

• One day without charges. There is one day in the week when entry to the museum is free: free admission on Thursdays. On that day it opens later than on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but it also closes later (on Thursdays 12:00-20:00), so you can come after work.
• The weekly rhythm. The museum has one day off: closed on Mondays. For a morning visit choose Tuesday or Wednesday (on Tuesdays 10:00-17:00), because on the other days the museum opens later.
• Do not come at the last minute. The ticket office closes before the museum does, and on a few public holidays a year the museum is closed; the list is on the museum’s website.
• Tickets for families and regular visitors. Besides the standard and reduced tickets (standard ticket 20 PLN (about 5 EUR), reduced 10 PLN (about 2 EUR)), the museum sells a family ticket for at most two adults with up to three children up to 15 years old, and an annual named ticket; their prices are in the price list on the museum’s website.
• Coats and luggage. You can leave your jacket on a hanger by the ticket office, but the hangers are not supervised; for more valuable items there are lockable deposit lockers, and the ticket office takes large luggage. Eating and drinking are not allowed in the museum or the exhibitions, and tripods and flash are prohibited.
• The terrace last. The exhibitions end on level 5 and the viewing terrace is on the roof - save it for the end of your route through the building.
• Accessibility. At the entrance there is a short ramp and an intercom at a height of about 140 cm, through which you can ask for help opening the door. The lift has Braille buttons and takes a wheelchair, and staff help with the ride; with an assistance dog you can enter all the spaces open to visitors.
• Groups and lessons. Guided tours in Polish or English for groups of up to 25 people are booked separately, and each participant’s ticket is added to the tour price. A group of 10 or more pays the group rate; museum lessons are meant for the youngest children and primary-school pupils.

Getting there

• Address: pl. Strzegomski 2, 53-681 Wrocław.
• Stops named by the museum: pl. Strzegomski (Muzeum Współczesne), Smolecka and DOLMED.
• Tram: according to the timetable in the City of Wroclaw’s open data (read on 25 October 2026), the nearest stop is “Pl. Strzegomski (Muzeum Współczesne)”, about 138 m from the museum, served by trams 3, 10, 12, 13, 21 and 22. Trams 13 and 20 stop at “Dolmed” (about 201 m), and trams 20 and 23 at “Smolecka” (about 270 m).
• Bus: the nearest stop, about 95 m from the museum, is “Strzegomska (Muzeum Współczesne)”, served by buses 132 and 142, which also stop on plac Strzegomski. Buses 106, 148 and 149 stop at “Smolecka”.
• At night: night bus 243 stops on plac Strzegomski (night bus 253 only a few times on a weekday), and night buses 206 and 249 stop at “Smolecka”.
• By car: the museum has no car park for visitors; you have to look for free spaces in the surrounding streets. The exception is wheelchair users: the entrance to the museum’s car park is from ul. Strzegomska, reached via ul. Św. Pawła.

Background

From plac Strzegomski what you see above all is the shape of the building: a cylindrical, free-standing air-raid shelter, built in 1942 to a design by Richard Konwiarz, a well-known Wroclaw architect. According to the Polish Wikipedia, it is the only museum in Poland set up in an above-ground shelter of this kind.

The museum moved into the former shelter in 2011; Wikipedia gives the exact opening date, 2 September 2011. Today permanent and temporary exhibitions fill the interior from the ground floor to level 5, and there is a viewing terrace on the roof.

The shelter has also been a place where artists work. In 2016, as part of the European Capital of Culture Wroclaw 2016 and the A-i-R Wro residency cycle, Artur Żmijewski ran an experimental project here with invited artists and the museum’s team, as culture.pl reported.