Ethnographic Park in Sanok
The Open-Air Museum in Sanok is one of the most beautiful open-air museums in Europe. Uniquely situated on the right bank of the San River, the Museum of Folk Architecture is the largest open-air museum in Poland and is eagerly visited by tourists every year.
On an area of 38 hectares, we can admire the former culture of the Polish-Ukrainian borderland (Low Beskids, Bieszczady) along with Subcarpathia. It showcases individual ethnographic groups, including the Boykos, Lemkos, Pogórzanie, and Dolinians. The museum displays over 100 wooden architecture objects from the 17th to the 20th century, including residential buildings, residential-farm buildings, and agricultural structures, as well as sacred objects (a 17th-century church, two 18th-century Boyko churches, a Lemko church from the early 19th century, and several chapels), public utility buildings (a village school, an inn), and industrial facilities (a water mill, windmills, forges). Most of the mentioned buildings are fully furnished and open for tours (data sourced from the official P.E. website).
The Ethnographic Park also features a permanent exhibition of icon painting titled "Carpathian Icon", showcasing 220 icons from the 15th to the 20th century. Last year, the museum acquired Podhale Cackel sheep and Carpathian goats. These are old Polish breeds, raised for centuries in our regions. The purpose of bringing in these animals is to create a pastoral sector in the park.
Photo and text author:
Katarzyna Krajewska
Author's website - www.fotofiszka.eu
