From the time The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established in Poland in 1977 to when Poland was liberated from communist rule in the late 1980s, missionaries were not legally allowed to proselytize in the country.
In an effort to both abide by the law and continue to share the restored gospel, Church members established a Church “information bureau” in 1979. Missionaries were allowed to share the gospel with those who requested information or entered the private property.
Later, the building also served as a meetinghouse for Saints in Warsaw until a chapel was built in the city in 1991.
On Aug. 25 of this year, that information bureau had been renovated and was dedicated as an official Church visitors’ center, with Elder James W. McConkie III, General Authority Seventy and second counselor in the Church’s Europe Central Area presidency, presiding at the dedication. Invited guests from genealogical, humanitarian and cultural organizations also attended the dedication.
In the dedicatory prayer, Poland Warsaw Mission President Gregory D. Roney dedicated the visitors’ center as a “place of gathering to invite all to come to know [God’s] Beloved Son better in recognizing the history of the Church in this land.”
Furthering the gathering of Israel
In an article on the Church’s Europe Newsroom, President Roney said the visitors’ center “will help further the ‘gathering’ in new and extraordinary ways.” It’s doing so through both missionary and family history work.
A short distance from the University of Warsaw and the Presidential Palace, the visitors’ center is located on Nowy Świat — one of the most heavily trafficked streets in Poland’s capital city, according to President Roney.
Many of the center’s visitors are pedestrians simply invited inside by missionaries on the street.
President Roney said an interest in genealogy is what draws many people to the visitors’ center, which now houses a FamilySearch center on the upper level.
The Church’s digitization efforts across Europe now allow individuals access to millions of historical records, supported by AI-powered tools.
A generational bridge
Besides being “perfect for missionary work” — as described by Warszawa Branch President Dariusz F. Dresler — the visitors’ center also preserves history.
In the dedicatory prayer, President Roney prayed that the visitors’ center would help people “connect history with heaven.”
He later explained that many of the Church’s Polish pioneers learned about the Church in the old information bureau, and members in Poland are grateful for a way to honor that history.
One way the center is connecting history with heaven is through the Church history in Poland exhibit on the lower level of the building.
A timeline mounted on the wall showcases milestones in the development of the Church in Poland, including the country’s dedication for the preaching of the gospel, the Polish translation of the Book of Mormon and the first chapel built in Warsaw.
At the center’s dedication, Elder McConkie called it “a place of learning and a generational bridge,” later adding that it “connects past and present.”
