Places

Spread over the area of the whole voivodeship, they form a regional mosaic of cultural shades. When visiting them, we are introduced to the world that once existed, changed, transformed and adopted to the modern times in its unique way. Visitors will find this bygone world, e.g. in the open-air museum. As they are located in the vast area, they take us to the world of the old countryside, with different farmhouses, village workshops, manor and sacred buildings, orchards and gardens dotted over cultivated fields. To soak in this idyllic atmosphere, it is worth visiting, e.g. the Museum of the Radom Countryside or the Museum of the Masovian Countryside in Sierpc, or the Museum of Wooden Architecture of the Siedlce Region in Sucha, which is a private initiative.

Alongside large open-air museums, buildings of smaller dimensions, i.e. individual farmhouses enjoy popularity as well. There are interesting places, such as: a Miller’s Farmhouse in Drewnowo-Ziemaki with an old windmill in situ, the Kurpie Farmhouse in Kadzidło as a solitary Kurpie dwelling or the Kampinoska Hut forming a part of a small Open-air museum of Forest Building in Granica.

The trail also includes museums collecting folk art objects, including the biggest one of them, i.e. the National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw, and smaller institutions, such as the Museum of Kurpie Culture in Ostrołęka or the Museum of Folk Music Instruments in Szydłowiec, which displays collections dedicated to instruments, music and musicians.

One will find interesting collections in the local culture institutions, e.g. in the Ethnographic Centre of Kurpie Cultural and Natural Heritage in Lelisie, or the Button-making Commemorative Room in Sochocin dedicated to shell button-making, which was once practised.

Great credit should be given to the initiatives taken by local community’s members associated in different organizations. These include the activities of the Union of Kurpie, the “White Forest – My Little Homeland” Association run by the Kurpie Smithy in Pniewo or the “Kampinoskie Society” Association which takes care of the above-mentioned hut in Granica.

The most interesting, though, are individual and non-institutionalised actions, derived from the need to preserve traces of the past. These include Warsaw Museum of Bread founded by the bakery master, Marian Pozorka, and his wife, the Museum of Polish Devil “Przedpiekle”, where Wiktorym Grąbczewski collected a remarkable “devil’s collection” in the abyss of cellars or impressive collections of Marian Pietrzak, who dreams of establishing the Museum of Sokołów Land, to name but a few.

It is hardly possible to list all these places and great people who were devoted to them. May the Masovian Trail of Traditions be the incentive for visiting them and immersing in the rich culture of the Masovia region.