Historical memorial sites in Warsaw and Krosno

In Warsaw, the Katyń Museum at the Citadel features several symbolic installations designed by Jerzy Kalina. These include the “Sarkofagi” (Sarcophagi), which are granite structures representing the final journeys of Polish prisoners and citizens deported by Soviet authorities. The site also includes the “Warta” forest, consisting of 92 hornbeam trees arranged in military-style rows, and the “Blizna” (Scar) path, a zigzagging walkway intended to symbolize the wound left by the Katyń massacre in collective memory.

In Krosno, a former detention center of the District Office of Public Security (PUBP) is being preserved at Portiusa 4. Operating between 1944 and 1956, the facility held individuals deemed opponents of the communist regime, including members of the Home Army. Conservation efforts have uncovered prisoner inscriptions, drawings, and small personal items such as newspaper fragments and religious symbols left on the cellar walls.