A LEGO® figure of a knight, about the size of a child, stands guard at the side of the entrance door to Historyland. (Tamala Malerk)
Fire-breathing dragons, massive naval battles and an actual bear with a designated military rank all await you at Historyland, where giant, sometimes room-sized, interactive LEGO® installations tell the history of Poland in multiple rooms. Here, an afternoon of fun and history is just a 20-minute walk, or a six-minute tram ride, from Camp Kościuszko, Poznań.
A LEGO® figure of a knight, about the size of a child, stands guard at the side of the entrance door to Historyland. Upon entry, you purchase your tickets, hang up your bag and jackets, and the attendant demonstrates how to use the audio guide that helps you throughout the 10 exhibits. The audio guide is essential and is available in multiple languages, including English.
The exhibition allows you to travel through time. At the beginning of each exhibit, you will find a stand featuring information about how many LEGO® bricks it took to make the model, how long it took, and fun facts about the model and the event it is displaying.
You begin with the settlement of Biskupin. Colloquially known as “The Polish Pompeii,” the remains of the 2,700-year-old Biskupin settlement in northern Poland hid underground until its discovery by a schoolteacher in the 1930s. This first exhibit teaches you about the entire exhibition. It is also low-tech enough to get you used to using the audio guide to follow along with the upcoming displays, which feature a variety of interactive technologies including spotlights, short films, virtual reality, motion-detection, etc.
Once you get your bearings straight, you maneuver through the various rooms featuring famous battles and events throughout Poland’s history. The Battle of Grunwald takes up two sides of an enormous room, and you walk between opposing sides as you hear the tale of the battle. Put on a pair of VR goggles and soar above the monastery at Jasna Góra. Stand on the interactive cockpit and use motion detection to learn all about the defense of Westerplatte. At the Wawel Cathedral, learn how an enormous fire-breathing dragon was defeated. This is just a sample of the things you will encounter.
At the Wawel Cathedral, learn how an enormous fire-breathing dragon was defeated. (Tamala Malerk)
After your adventure through Poland’s history, you return your audio guide in the gift shop where there is also an area of LEGO® displays free of charge. This means you are free to come back and shop LEGO® kits and check out the free models on display whenever you want.
Historyland is for people of all ages. I enjoyed going by myself as a fully-grown adult, but families can have a blast too, especially in the room dedicated for kids to play in. You can get tickets onsite; however, with as busy as this place can get during popular tourist times, I recommend getting tickets online in advance at historyland.pl/en/tickets.
