3 / 5 - One review
How to get there
40 minutes south of Olsztyn by car
When to go
All year round, with the skansen open from 1st May to 15th October
Minimum stay
One day
Olsztynek (Poland)
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Marcin Polak
Practical information on Olsztynek
Reviews of Olsztynek
With its skansen, an open-air folk museum where a series of traditional Warmian houses have been rebuilt on site, Olsztynek is definitely a place worth visiting. A number of festivals and events are held here and visitors get the opportunity to learn about various traditional crafts and skills.
My suggestion:
Pay a visit to the Grunwald Monument located around nine miles from Olsztynek, which commemorates the medieval Battle of Grunwald at which Poland defeated the Teutonic Order. A large memorial has been built at the site as well as a museum where you can watch a film showing a recreation of the battle.
My review
The town of Olsztynek itself has little of interest to offer. Formerly part of Prussia, it was largely destroyed in 1945. Though some of the buildings dating from its Prussian past, such as the town hall, are still standing, this little town is predominantly communist-era in appearance.
However, Olsztynek does have one very good place to visit: its skansen, an open-air folk museum. These types of museums, which are quite common in Poland, function as life-sized architectural libraries containing traditional houses that have been transported to the protected environments of their grounds and rebuilt on site. Olsztynek's "Muzeum Budownictwa Ludowego" is a basically an authentic Warmian village consisting of traditional houses transported from all four corners of the region. The buildings are open to visitors from May to October and the museum organises numerous displays of traditional skills and crafts and hosts various folk festivals. Don't miss the wooden windmill!
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Marcin Polak
64 travelers' photos
