28.09.2023

Budimex has completed the construction of the Polish History Museum

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Budimex has built the largest museum in Poland, and at the same time one of the most modern in Europe. The new seat of the Polish History Museum has over 44 thousand. m2 of area and consists of 6 floors.  The investor is the Museum of Polish History and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

The 8,700 m2 exhibition space will house several thousand exhibits showing over 1000 years of history of our country. The 100-metre-wide and 200-metre-long structure was constructed to ensure the highest level of safety for both visitors and the collections stored here.  Thousands of people and equipment units were involved in the work that lasted 63 months. The value of the contract is over PLN 0.7 billion.

The Polish History Museum (MHP), located in the heart of Warsaw – at the Warsaw Citadel – is to be visited annually by approx. 500 thousand. Visitors. In addition to the permanent multimedia exhibition (7,300 m2) and the temporary exhibition (1,400 m2), guests will have at their disposal an auditorium with approx. 600 people and a cinema room for approx. 150 seats. The two-storey garage can accommodate nearly 700 cars at the same time. These are not all the works that the general contractor has done. Budimex has developed over 30 hectares of green space, which has been prepared to fulfil recreational and leisure functions, which can also be used by residents of the capital. The building also has a roof terrace. It offers a wide view of Warsaw in every direction.

The construction was extremely demanding from the very beginning. “Due to the fact that the Warsaw Citadel has always been a military area where weapons were stored, we had to ensure appropriate sapper and archaeological supervision. Some of the items found during the works were added to the Museum’s collection, and the unexploded ordnance was disarmed – says Artur Popko, President of Budimex S.A.

Highest safety standards

Due to the fact that this place is extremely important for the Polish national heritage, the stored exhibits must be properly secured. “This is why the structure of the building is resistant to even the most extreme threats. The safety of visitors and several thousand museum monuments and objects is ensured by, in addition to the BMS system, a structure monitoring system, which is equipped with an intelligent module responsible for predicting the occurrence of possible failures and their automatic reporting to technical services – explains Daniel Tymiński, Contract Director at Budimex S.A.

The facility will be protected against fire by a modern installation that converts water into water mist. The use of such a solution significantly reduces the spread of fire and facilitates the rescue operation and enables quick evacuation of people. The building also has a modern mechanical ventilation system. It provides a microclimate, thanks to which it is possible to maintain the required parameters for exhibitions or stored historical goods. Special partitions and an underground bunker are to protect the exhibits from possible damage. A fire protection system based on water mist and gas extinguishing are just some of the modern solutions that were used in the construction.

Modern design

The general contractor also took care of the visual qualities of the Museum. 12,000 m2 of veneered and wooden cladding and stone were used to finish the spacious interiors of the building. The exterior façade is clad in glass and more than 10,000 m2 of Portuguese marble. “It is worth adding here that the museum is the only building in Poland with a ventilated façade in the form of a stone made of marble,” says Daniel Tymiński. 

Innovative acoustic solutions

The facility has innovative acoustic solutions using wave theories treating the interiors as a set of resonators that provide the highest sound quality. The cinema and theatre hall uses a “box-in-box” structure – its body is completely separated from the rest of the building’s structure, which ensures exceptional soundproofing and acoustics. Thanks to a special structure, conferences and lectures, video screenings, performances and even concerts will be held in the auditorium, without a sound system. “The innovative use of sound panels makes it one of the best acoustically equipped halls in Poland and Europe,” explains Artur Popko.  

More than a museum

The functionality of the Polish History Museum goes beyond the traditional functions of this type of institution. Not only conservation workshops, laboratories, warehouses, office space for employees, but also restaurants, cafes, a cinema hall, an entertainment hall and a library were built on the premises of the MHP, and the area around the building was made in such a way as to restore this place located in the heart of Warsaw to the residents and incorporate it permanently into the vibrant urban fabric of the capital.

The Polish History Museum is not the only public facility recently built by Budimex. In August this year, in Szczecin, the modernized building of the Polish Theatre was put into use. This building, unique on a European scale, has 5 modern stages, which can accommodate a total of nearly 1,000 spectators. As part of the project, a completely new building was also built – located 2 meters below sea level – a modern reinforced concrete and glass structure integrated into the Oder escarpment.

In September this year, together with the investor – the State Archives
and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage – a new building of the State Archives in Bydgoszcz was put into use. Modern architectural, technological and IT solutions have been used in the building, thanks to which the files collected on 30 km will be able to be stored in conditions of appropriate temperature and humidity.

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