Szymbark
A Kashubian park with an upside-down house, a very long plank and a Siberian shelter rebuilt on site.
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The Centre for Education and Regional Promotion at Szymbark is a hard place to categorise: part open-air museum of Kashubian building, part collection of oddities, all assembled by a local family since the 1990s. The best-known piece is the upside-down house, built inverted on its roof with the furniture on the ceiling, which is disorienting to walk through and has been widely copied elsewhere. There is also the world's longest plank, a Douglas fir board over thirty-six metres long with a Guinness record; a Kashubian house built with the longest table; a bunker; and a concert hall inside a huge wooden violin. The serious part is the Siberian section: an original wooden house from Siberia, brought here and re-erected, presented alongside material about Poles deported east, which is a family and regional history rather than an exhibit imported for effect.
What you actually see
- An upside-down house - built on its roof, walked through inverted.
- A thirty-six-metre plank - a Douglas fir board with a Guinness record.
- A house inside a giant violin - used as a concert space.
- A Siberian house re-erected - with material on the deportations east.
When to go
May to September. Half a day.
Honest expectations
It is a mixture of genuine regional museum and roadside curiosity, and visitors expecting one get the other. Visits are guided in groups and paced. Busy with coach parties in summer. Labelling is largely Polish.
Nearby
Kartuzy and the Kashubian lakes are north-east; Wdzydze is south.
What to pack for Szymbark
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.
