Poland's Polish Ministry of Culture and the city of Krakow, where the factory is located, have earmarked some 4 million zlotys (US$1.2 million, euro1 million) for the museum project, which is to be completed by the end of the year, ministry spokeswoman Halina Pijanowska said.
"This is a story which needs to be documented; it's part of Krakow history," said Aleksander Janicki, a local artist designing the project.
"Everyone has seen 'Schindler's List,' and they want to come and see the place," he said. "It's a natural place for such a museum."
Parts of the factory, including the office where Schindler worked, are already open to tourists.
Inside, visitors can view models of the museum project and see wartime photographs and stills from Spielberg's film, factory guide Tomasz Palik said.
A commemorative plaque now marks the beige, plaster pre-World War II building as the site of Schindler's factory, Palik said.
The new museum is to feature multimedia rooms telling the story of Schindler's complex life as well as the stories of those Jews he managed to save, including survivor testimony, Janicki said.
Planning is so far in the preliminary stages, Janicki said, but they plan to contact Spielberg's Shoah Foundation and Yad Vashem and various Jewish communities for assistance in compiling information on Schindler's life.
Janicki envisions visitors entering the museum by the original black stairway, where they will listen to sounds which build the mood and evoke the memories of the historic past. The multimedia rooms will be located on the two top floors of the former factory.
Since the 1993 release of Spielberg's Oscar-winning film, hundreds of tourists to Krakow have sought out the place where Schindler kept the emaciated, frostbitten Jews, claiming their work was essential to the survival of his metalworks factory, where prisoners produced enameled pots and pans, and later munitions for the German army.
Schindler spent his fortune feeding the Jews whom he saved from the Nazi death camps. He emigrated to Argentina with his wife Emilie after World War II, but returned to Germany in 1958 where he died in 1974 and was buried in Jerusalem, at his own request. Emilie died in 2001.
