The project called “Creating the Museum of Fortifications and Weaponry within Bastion III and the Arsenal in Zamość” was carried out thanks to subsidies from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the Infrastructure and Environment Programme Priority 11 Culture and cultural heritage, Measure 11.1 Protection and preservation of cultural heritage of supra-regional importance.
A museum was established based on the Arsenal Museum of Colours and Weaponry. It was expanded and extended to include new exhibition spaces by restoring and adapting the Gunpowder Magazine building located on Bastion III, reorganising and updating the Arsenal interiors and creating a new exhibition space at the foot of the fortress rampart by the curtain wall between the bastion and Szczebrzeska Gate. The Exhibition Pavilion at the foot of the ramparts now housed collections of arms. Prior to the project these were displayed in the open air in the moat and the demi lune in front of Bastion III. It was now optimised as a venue for displaying and storing the collections. Locating the museum’s support functions, such as workshops, storerooms, ticket desks, audiovisual suites in the Gunpowder Magazine and the building at the foot of the rampart made it possible to remove duplicate sections from the Arsenal’s interiors and for it be seen to best advantage. The project made it possible to collect, collate and describe the various forms of the art of fortress building and militaria on a scale unprecedented in Poland. The project is also unique as it ties in with the military architecture and fortified landscape of Zamość fortress. Based on the completed project, a virtual cultural institution was set up using the existing collections. The project’s uniqueness is also down to the fact that there is no other museum in Poland where you can trace the development of the art of war from the 16th century to the mid 20th century thanks to the displays of arms and soldiers’ kit.
All the buildings and the Museum of Fortifications and Weaponry Division of Zamość Museum are accessible to disabled visitors.