Nowa Huta Underground - os. Szkolne 37

What to expect

This is a real Cold War air-raid shelter, built in the 1950s beneath the No. 3 Mechanical Schools Complex on the Szkolne housing estate, and now run by the Museum of Krakow as one of two sites of the Nowa Huta Underground route. Inside, the permanent exhibition “Stan zagrożenia” (State of Emergency) explores the instinctive human need to hide from danger and presents some of the most remarkable shelter structures around the world. There is also a scale model of a standard shelter and a space of open questions that invites you to reflect on what safety means today.

Set your expectations correctly: this is a compact, atmospheric site, not a large museum. The main draw is the authentic shelter itself. Nowa Huta was built from scratch in the early 1950s, exactly when the communist authorities launched a nationwide shelter-building programme, and the two projects overlapped, so numerous shelters from that programme survive across the district. The route treats them as Cold War heritage rather than a curiosity, and the narration deliberately connects the 1950s with present-day questions of civil protection.

One thing to plan around: Nowa Huta Underground has two separate addresses. The museum recommends starting with the main exhibition “Shelters in Nowa Huta - a Cold War legacy” at os. Szkolne 22 and then visiting “State of Emergency” here at os. Szkolne 37. They are separate tickets and separate entrances, a few minutes’ walk apart - do not confuse the two.

Visiting in practice

The branch opens Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00-17:00, and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing for individual visitors and 60 minutes before closing for guided groups. A standard ticket costs 22 PLN, reduced 16 PLN, and a family ticket 44 PLN. On Wednesdays admission is free: collect a free-entry pass online at bilety.muzeumkrakowa.pl or, subject to availability, at the ticket desk on the day. A guided tour of the exhibition costs 220 PLN per group; the museum also runs a broader shelter-heritage walk around Nowa Huta for 390 PLN. For bookings and visiting queries, email info@muzeumkrakowa.pl or call +48 12 446 78 21 or +48 12 446 78 22 - worth doing for groups, while individual visitors can normally just turn up. Allow about 45 minutes. Practical detail that catches people out: the ticket desk is reached through the main entrance of the school building above the shelter, so walk straight in through the school doors. Announced closures: 1 and 11 November, and 24, 25, 26 and 31 December.

Getting there

The Szkolne estate sits in the heart of old Nowa Huta, a few minutes’ walk north of Plac Centralny, the district’s monumental central square. From the city centre, take any tram towards Plac Centralny or Rondo Kocmyrzowskie (roughly 25-30 minutes from the Old Town) and walk into the estate. Look for the main entrance of the No. 3 Mechanical Schools Complex rather than a separate museum building.

Nearby

Pair this visit with the Nowa Huta Museum , which tells the story of the whole district and runs the other half of the shelter route at os. Szkolne 22. A short ride west along al. Jana Pawła II, the Polish Aviation Museum holds one of Europe’s largest aircraft collections - together they make a full day out in this side of Krakow.