Marlena Happach

As of 10 June 2024, because of the merger of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage and the National Institute for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, a new state cultural institution, the National Heritage Institute, is starting to operate. Marlena Happach has been appointed as acting director of the new state cultural institution.

The scope of the Institute's activities includes setting and disseminating standards for the protection and conservation of monuments, collecting and disseminating knowledge about cultural heritage, as well as conducting scientific and research activities on cultural heritage.

Marlena Happach is an architect, urban planner and social activist associated with Warsaw. She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology, as part of which she studied for a year at L'École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris-La Villette and for a semester at the Technische Universität in Berlin. She co-founded Odblokuj (Unblock) Association, of which she was president from 2010 to 2016. From 2012 to 2015, she was vice-president of the Warsaw Branch of SARP (Union of Architects), and then its president for a year. From 2016 to 2024, she served as Architect of the City of Warsaw and was director of the Office of Architecture and Spatial Planning of the City of Warsaw. From April 2024, she was deputy director for investments at the Warsaw Zoological Garden.