A funding appeal has been launched by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial in Poland after it was revealed that at least 120m euro (£108.1m) was needed for the long-term conservation of the site.

In a report published at the end of January, the museum said that its current annual budget is around 6.8m euro (£6.1m), partly-funded by the Polish Government. However, it is estimated that 60m euro (£54m) will be required in order to carry out urgent repair works. Admission is currently free at the museum, which is set in nearly 200 hectares (494 acres) of land and includes more than 150 buildings, 300 ruins and a collection of documents and other items telling the story of one of Nazi Germany's most infamous concentration camps.

More than 1.1 million people from across the world visited Auschwitz in 2008, and the museum's director, Piotr Cywiński, has called for international assistance in raising the funds required to guarantee its future. Cywiński said: "Only a shared effort will make it possible to preserve the authenticity of this place and its message. In 2008, we laid the groundwork for a special fund for the preservation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.

"I believe that the democratic countries of this world, and people who realise how fragile this world is, will support us." The museum's permanent exhibition first opened in 1955, including photographs, documents and historic artefacts, while work is ongoing to create a new main exhibition to be housed in the camp's original buildings.