Cultural and Natural Heritage Ethnography Centre in Lelis

Save from oblivion

He has searched the Kurpie region within c. 100 km radius from Lelis, looking for proper authentic exhibits. On many occasions, in order to acquire the item that his collection lacked, he travelled much further. The students of the local school have turned out to be helpful in his search. It is through them that he reached the owners of many unusual items and tools, which were still in everyday use not so long ago and – replaced by the modern technology – turned out to be obsolete. Henryk Kulesza, a history teacher, gives all his energy, enthusiasm and passion to the place. The place is known as the Cultural an Natural Heritage Ethnography Centre in Lelis. Henryk Kulesza, its unusual „curator”, is known for his passion, knowledge and merits for his small homeland, infecting the municipal authorities with his enthusiasm and bringing the place into existence.
The Centre displays unique expositions from the past of the Kurpie Forest inhabitants . The collected items come from the late 19th century until the 80’s of the 20th century. The collection is dispalyed in two buildings – the outhouse and the main building, in the previous seat of municipality. In order to present the entirety of the cultural landscape of Kurpie the decision was taken – unusual for etnographic museums – to present the richness of the natiural environment. The exhibition establishes „the introduction” to the story of the life in Kurpie villages. The remaining rooms have been arranged in Kurpie style, with all the elements typical for the interior decoration: furniture, loom, święty kąt (sacred corner) and sacral images, cloths, decorative cutouts. On the first floor you can find some displays devoted to work: kitchen with a variety of ceramic dishes, small larder with the kitchen related accessories (troughs, hutches, flour containers, etc.), and also a room displaying fishing accessories.

The other building presents the exhibition of farming activities like breeding, forest beekeeping, beekeeping, oil making, as well as handicraft works, jak gręplarstwo (preparing wool) or fulling. Huge machines such as: threshing machines, internal combustion engines, hay collectors and potato diggers are exhibited in the carport.

As part of the co-operation with the students of the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology in Warsaw (Instytut Etnologii i Antropologii Kulturowej Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego) the inventory of the collection has been carried out.