The Wooden Architecture Route is a project designed to promote and thereby save from oblivion the most valuable wooden objects in southern Poland. It was initially the project of three voivodships – Silesian, Subcarpathian and Lesser Poland. After several years also Swietokrzyskie Voivodship have joined the Route.
There are several hundred objects on the Route that are the memorial of architecture, culture and art of the ancient countryside. They are also valuable because of their small number. The most precious monuments have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. These include churches in the villages Binarowa, Debno Podhalanskie, Lipnica Murowana, Sekowa, Blizne and Haczow.
Here are some of many interesting sights located on the Wooden Architecture Route:
St. Elizabeth’s Church in Trybsz (Lesser Poland)- Wooden church dating back to the sixteenth century built with the log construction use, covered with shingles. The walls and ceiling in the inside of the church are decorated with beautiful polychromy from the seventeenth century depicting biblical and Marian scenes. Some scenes are painted against the backdrop of the panoramas of the Pieniny and the Tatras (probably the first known representation of those mountains in Poland).
The Rural Architecture Museum in Sanok (Subcarpathian Voivodship) – It is the largest, picturesquely situated ethnographic museum in Poland. Area of its interest concerns south-eastern Poland. Historic buildings have been divided into several sectors devoted to distinct cultures.
The Zalipie village (Lesser Poland) – Known as the Painted Village thanks to floral ornaments decorating walls of numerous buildings (houses and farm buildings). In Zalipie you may also visit a museum – The Homestead of Felicja Curyłowa, the most famous painter from Zalipie.
Czernikiewicz family farmstead in Bodzentyn (Swietokrzyskie Voivodship) – Farmstead is an excellent example of the nineteenth-century architecture of small agricultural towns. It consists of residential buildings and farm buildings. Inside you can see the traditional items of everyday use.
Folk art exhibitions at the Regional Chambers in Koniakow (Silesia) – Koniakow has a reputation for the production of beautiful lace ornaments. Lace, paintings and sculpture exhibitions can be seen in local museums and regional chambers.
The Wooden Architecture Route is a road tourist trail which means that it links together objects located at a greater distance from each other. The best way is to visit it by car or other means of transport. Most of the monuments is located in rural areas where traffic is smaller therefore may be the one-day cycling tours destination. There is no problem to find them because there are road signs showing the way to particular places. All objects are labeled with information boards with descriptions in Polish, English and German. Some monuments are open for visitors – it is good to check opening hours in advance. Here are the websites of the Route in particular voivodships:
More information on:
Silesia (only in Polish).
Photo © Andrzej Śliwiński