The Józef Żak Open Air Museum is located in Zawoja-Markowa near the Babia Góra National Park. It was established in 1973. This open air museum was established by the Babia Góra District Division of the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society (PTTK) with its seat in Sucha Beskidzka, and its initiator was Józef Żak. Beautifully situated, overlooking the Babia Góra Mountain, the museum presents village houses originally built at the border of Orava and the Żywiec Beskids regions in Lesser Poland.

The first cottage, which was built at the turn of the 19th century, now houses an exhibition on mountain guides and hill walking, especially in the Babia Góra region. In 1986, another cottage (from the beginning of the 20th century) was moved to the museum. There are a common room and guest rooms there. It is a place where you can buy postcards and souvenirs. The third cottage (its interior and the cottage itself date back to the 2nd half of the 19th century) is a ”kurlok“, which means that it has a stove with no chimney, just with a smoke-hole. It faces the south-east side towards the life-giving sun in order to provide its inhabitants with health and abundance. The interior is divided with a large utility space into two parts. The first one is residential quarters with so-called black and white rooms. They house the exhibition of typical equipment. In the other part which used to be a service space, now we can see a very interesting and rich collection of religious oleographs dating back to the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. These paintings (presenting house patrons) were to protect the household and its inhabitants against all evil. People used to pray to them and keep blessed herbs and the Palm Sunday palms behind them. They were purchased at fairs, marketplaces and from colporteurs.

There is also a smithy in the museum with a typical interior (beginning of the 20th century), equipment, and tools used by a blacksmith and their products. Besides, there is a shrine and a freestanding cellar with a granary.

The Open Air Museum is on the Wooden Architecture Trail running through the Silesian, Lesser Poland, Sub-Carpathian, and Świętokrzyskie Voivodeships.

Skansen im. Józefa Żaka
34-222 Zawoja-Markowa (Markowe Rówienki)
tel. (+48) 33 874 36 70, (+48) 607 250 980
e-mail: skansenzawoja@vp.pl
www.skansenzawoja.republika.pl