Open-air Museum of Forest Buildings in Granica

A must-see part of your trip

One of favorite destinations for school excursions. At weekends a place willingly and frequently visited by tourists. In order to create it, a research of as many as… 60 different villages was carried out. This is all about the Open-air Museum of Forest Building (Skansen Budownictwa Puszczańskiego) in Granica, belonging to the Kampinos National Park and to the Jadwiga and Roman Kobendza Teaching and Museum Centre (Ośrodek Dydaktyczno-Muzealny im. prof. Jadwigi i Romana Kobendzów).

The museum is located 40 km from Warsaw, near some tourist attractions such as Żelazowa Wola and Niepokalanów. The idea to establish it was born in the years 1975-1976. A field research carried at that time led to a discovery of 98 interesting objects, of which 25 were selected for translocation. Initially the village of Lipków was considered for the location of the open-air museum, but eventually the museum was decided to be set up in the village of Granica within the Kampinos National Park. Unfortunately, those big plans had a rather modest finale with the settlement of a Zeilendorf village (“rzędówka”, a village settlement type) with just two farmsteads: Widymajer’s and Wiejcka’s. The third one – Połć’s farmstead – now called Kampinoska Cottage, is under the care of Kampinos Society and is located separately on the away from the parking lot to the Teaching and Museum Center.

Widymajer’s farmstead, suited for conducting classes, is fronting a road. It is an example of a household owned by a rich peasant. It consists of a barn, a cowshed, a granary and a woodshed with a coach house. The next farmstead, Wiejcka’s, also fronting a road, is an example of a moderately rich household with the following farm buildings: a barn, a granary and a shed.

The farmsteads should be merely treated as examples of primeval forest architecture and a visualization of the functional layout of the farms – the interiors are not equipped with any decorations, tools or farming and household objects. What is still missing there is a plan to arrange the interiors for exhibition – something that Kampinos Society has successfully implemented in the Połć’s farmstead.

At present, thanks to external funding, the museum is undergoing a renovation under conservator’s supervision. The works completion is anticipated by the end of 2015.