Never before has such a large group of highly talented architects made an effort to design a building which is to stand in Poland. The names of the applicants alone ensure crowds of tourists will come and much prestige for the institute.
An international jury chose 11 finalists from the 119 applications which were sent in from 21 different countries. Among them are Daniel Libeskind (The Jewish Museum in Berlin and the memorial on the site of the World Trade Center), David Chipperfield, Zvi Hecker, Peter Eisenman (Holocaust Memorial in Berlin), as well as two exceptional Polish architectural firms – Bulanda i Mucha Architekci from Warsaw and DDJM from Krakow.
The final decision will be announced on the 30th of June 2005.
The Museum will stand on the square in front of the memorial to the Heroes of the Ghetto in the Warsaw district of Muranow. The exhibits, projected by the British firm Evert Communications, will be modern and interactive. Guests of the museum will walk the tight streets of polish cities, find themselves inside a recreation of an old synagogue, and feel how the original inhabitants lived confined within the Ghetto.
“This will not be a mausoleum nor a place for sad memories, but rather a situation where people may experience the history of the Jewish people in Poland, how their culture has influenced Polish culture and vice versa,” states the committee chairperson Bohdan Paczowski, a Polish architect from Luxembourg.
After many years of planning, the project will finally be realized. In January, the Minister of Culture, the President of Warsaw, and a representative for the Jewish Historical Institute Foundation signed a contract which guaranteed financing for the museum. The projected start date for construction is next year, with plans to open the museum in the spring of 2008.
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