Olsztynek Open-Air Museum

This museum has an unusual history: it was founded in 1909 in Konigsberg, in the grounds of the zoo, as a collection of East Prussian rural buildings, and in 1938 the whole thing was dismantled and moved to Olsztynek, about a hundred and forty kilometres away, where it was re-erected and has stayed. That makes several of the buildings twice-moved. The collection now runs to around eighty structures on about forty hectares - Warmian, Masurian, Powisle and Lithuanian Minor houses, farmsteads, windmills of three types, a wooden church, a fire station, a smithy and an inn - furnished by region and period, with the differences between the local building traditions laid out clearly. Old crop varieties are grown and local livestock breeds kept. There is a Polish song and folklore museum in the town alongside, and the site holds craft demonstrations and seasonal events.

What you actually see

• A museum moved whole - founded in Konigsberg in 1909, re-erected here in 1938.
• Around eighty buildings - Warmian, Masurian, Powisle and Lithuanian Minor.
• Three kinds of windmill - among the mills and workshops on the site.
• Old crops and breeds - grown and kept across the forty hectares.

When to go

May to September. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Open seasonally with limited winter access. Some interiors are opened only with a guide. The site is large and involves walking. Labelling is mostly Polish.

Nearby

Olsztyn is twenty-five kilometres north; Nidzica is south.