What can be considered the sources of civilisation? What are the milestones in its development? What might the world look like in a few hundred years? The “Roots of Civilisation” gallery will both pose questions and inspire to seek answers. Visitors will carry out experiments and observations using nearly 70 interactive devices. They will learn about the technical aspects of the development of civilisation, scientific discoveries, social phenomena, philosophy and the arts, without which the whole picture of the development of civilisation would be incomplete.

The Roots of Civilisation gallery will consist of the following parts (working titles):

Milestones
It is these innovations and solutions – from the wheel to the Internet – that set new directions in the development of civilisation. Here we will learn about:
• The development of architecture. We will build models of arches and vaults. We will check how stress is distributed in a structure, as seen in Warsaw bridges. We will try to build a bridge without the use of joints and shackles as designed by Leonardo da Vinci in 1502.
• Various sources of energy: from sails using wind energy through windmills and water turbines to the electric motor. We will learn about the working principles of them all. We will find out why it is possible to sail upwind and we will generate electricity.
• Different ways for communication. Among other things, we will see how many connections have to be made between servers worldwide so that a webpage is displayed onscreen after we type in its address. 
                                                                                                        Poem-generating machine - "Electrybard"

Mathematics
How did the Babylonians, Ancient Greeks or the inhabitants of Mycenae count? What does the symbol of a rosette have in common with mathematics? We will also discover some mysterious conic sections so important for the development of mathematics and physics. We will observe how laser beams distribute on solids – in this way we will learn how contour lines are created on maps.

Rhythm
We will decide on the composition of a chamber orchestra while listening to a piece of music so as to discover the importance of various instruments for tone. We will see a combination of modern technology with a classical instrument in the laser harp. We will check the impact of a soundtrack on an audience's emotions arising while watching a movie. We will see the artistic fusion of sound, mechanics and picture in the “light sculpture”.

Writing
We will try to translate a random word into hieroglyphs; we will browse through pages of the Codex Aureus from the 11th century; we will also learn about the techniques used by late 19th c. conspirators to copy clandestine information.

Archaeology
We will test archaeological radar. We will steer a robot closed in a mysterious interior. We will carry out excavations from the future – we will play archaeologists living several hundred years from now and excavating our everyday articles. What will they find?

Trade
We will learn about the history of ancient trade routes. What was traded and where, for instance, before the fall of the Roman Empire and how did it change afterwards? How do these routes look today?

Fire
We will observe a fire whirl and we will make fire with flint and steel or wood.

Water
We will try about a dozen devices in which man uses water as a driving force: water mills, turbines, an Archimedean screw and a mechanical fountain.

The Roots of Civilization gallery will be the only one of its kind in Europe combining exact sciences with humanities, and a challenge as far as interactive presentation goes. The exhibition will open in mid 2010, along with the first module of the building. The interactive exhibits of the gallery were designed and are being assembled by the German company Hüttinger.