Babia Góra National Park Permanent Exhibition, Zawoja

The permanent exhibition of the Babia Góra National Park (Wystawa Stała Babiogórskiego Parku Narodowego) is housed in the park's headquarters in Zawoja, in the part of the village called Barańcowa. It is not a big city museum but an education centre of the national park, created above all for those who are setting out for Babia Góra or have just come down from its trails. The display has two parts, nature and culture, and also includes the "Pod Cylem" mini-gallery with works by local artists.

Besides protecting nature, the Babia Góra National Park looks after the cultural heritage of the highlanders living around the mountain, the Babiogórcy and the Orawiacy. That is why, next to the forest dioramas, the exhibition also shows everyday life in the mountain villages: how people farmed, what they wore and how they furnished their cottages. The park sees the experience of their ancestors, who lived alongside nature without burdening it, as a good example for people today.

What to see

• Nature section – a multimedia show about the nature of Babia Góra, recordings of the voices of animals living in its forests, and dioramas with mountain-forest wildlife.
• Culture section – original objects connected with the daily work of local people, plus the costumes and cottage furnishings of the Babia Góra highlanders.
• 3D photographs – views of the region that give a sense of being there.
• "Pod Cylem" mini-gallery – founded in 2002 on the initiative of Władysława Kulak, then the park's artist. Folk artists and craftspeople from both the northern and southern parts of the region exhibit here: embroidery, painting, graphics and linocuts, glass painting, sculpture, models of traditional Orava buildings, as well as nature photography. At times the gallery shows ethnographic items from the park's collection and works from the occupational-therapy workshops of the social care home in Maków Podhalański.

The park prepares temporary exhibitions every year, though not in Zawoja but in one of the cottages of the Orava Ethnographic Park in Zubrzyca Górna. Their themes have included shepherding, woodworking, traditional cooking, wild herbs and folk carving, and, together with the Zawoja municipal culture centre, sacred art around Babia Góra and the costumes of the Babia Góra highlanders and their neighbours.

Practical information

The exhibition is open all year: from May to October daily except Mondays, and from November to April Tuesday to Friday (also at weekends during the winter school holidays). A standard ticket costs 7 zł and a reduced one 5 zł; the full schedule and prices are in the "At a glance" box. You can also buy the compulsory national park entry ticket here (required on every trail since 2022; 10 zł standard, 5 zł reduced), so it is easy to sort out both before heading up the mountain. The exhibition is accessible to wheelchair users, with a lift and a special outdoor toilet, and a raised tactile map has been prepared for blind and partially sighted visitors. For school and tourist groups the park runs paid educational sessions indoors and outdoors. The best plan is to visit at the start or end of a hike: the headquarters stand right next to the trail to Markowe Szczawiny.

Nearby: trails and peaks

Just a few dozen metres from the headquarters runs our trail Zawoja Składy – Markowe Szczawiny, the approach to the mountain hut at Markowe Szczawiny below Babia Góra. Less than a kilometre away is Zawoja Widły – Markowe Szczawiny – Babia Góra, the classic route to the summit. For an easy walk with children, try the Educational Path "Śladami Wawrzyńca Szkolnika", which starts about 400 metres away. Zubrzyca Górna with its Orava open-air museum, where the park's temporary exhibitions are shown, is about 10 km from Zawoja, so both places fit easily into one day.

Official website: bgpn.gov.pl

Photos: Babiogórski Park Narodowy, official website.