WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A new museum is opening in Warsaw devoted to Polish vodka, a 500-year-old national tradition and one of the country's best-known exports.

The Polish Vodka Museum is scheduled to open next Tuesday in a former 19th century vodka factory that is part of an industrial area undergoing revitalization and gentrification.

The CEO of the Polish Vodka Association, Andrzej Szumowski, says he hopes the multimedia exhibition housed in several rooms will bring greater recognition to the national drink.

During a media tour on Wednesday, Szumowski, described vodka as an essential component of Poland's heritage and claimed that Poles were the first to produce it — something he acknowledged was a point of dispute with Russia.

He called Polish vodka "part of our DNA, part of our history, heritage and tradition."