Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum

The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum stands in a Grade II listed terrace at 20 Prince’s Gate, Kensington Road, facing Hyde Park. It occupies part of a Victorian development by Charles James Freake and sits just within the City of Westminster, though close to Kensington’s commercial centres. The building also houses the nearby Polish Hearth Club, sharing the same architectural heritage. Founded on 2 May 1945, it preserves the memory of the Polish Underground State and the government-in-exile during the Second World War. After the war, many exiled Poles could not return to their homeland due to Soviet control and mass deportations. The institute functions as both a research centre and a museum, conserving historical records and artefacts. Its collections include witness accounts from the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, military medals, uniforms, insignia, and personal effects of Polish statesmen and soldiers. The film and photographic archive contains over 5,000 images, digitised in 2005–06 and used in Polish exhibitions. In 2006, a passer-by found 2,000 photographs by Jan Markiewicz from the 1950s Polish community in South London, rescued from a skip in Brixton. Visitors find a reference library, archives, and museum displays organised into departments. The Photographic, Film, and Sound Archives hold extensive records of wartime and post-war Polish life. The institute is governed by a council with an elected executive committee, led by a chairman who has included figures like Lt Gen. Prof. Marian Kukiel and Count Edward Raczyński. Exhibits and publications continue to explore Poland’s wartime history and the experiences of its diaspora.