Orava Ethnographic Park in Zubrzyca Górna

The Orava Ethnographic Park in Zubrzyca Górna is an open-air museum devoted to the culture of the Polish part of Orava, a historic region on the border with Slovakia. It is described as the first open-air museum created in post-war Poland. The museum covers about 12 ha at the foot of the Babia Góra massif and has more than 60 buildings, as well as wells, fences, beehives and other small structures.

The heart of the museum is the manor of the Moniak family, standing on its original site. The Moniaks were the village heads (sołtys) of Zubrzyca from the village's foundation until the mid-19th century, and in 1674 they were ennobled by an imperial act. The oldest part of the manor dates from the 17th century, the newer one from the 18th. In 1937 descendants of the family, Joanna Wilczkowa and her brother Sándor Lattyak, gave the estate to the state so that a museum could be created. The war halted the work; afterwards the manor fell into decay and was even used as a sheepfold, but in 1953–1954 local craftsmen restored it. The museum was formally opened on 11 September 1955 — the date regarded as its birthday.

What to see

The older part of the museum around the manor has the feel of a park, while the newer part recreates a typical Orava village with farmsteads scattered along the road. The exhibitions show the life of different social groups in Orava from the 17th to the 20th century.

• The Moniak manor with its stables, sheepfold, pigsty and cellar — the museum's most valuable monument, including its smoke-blackened "black room".
• The Church of Our Lady of the Snows from the first half of the 17th century, a former manor chapel: late Baroque altars and a choir loft with carvings by the folk artist Józef Wrona.
• Village cottages from Jabłonka, Podwilk, Zubrzyca Dolna, Chyżne and Lipnica Wielka: the wedding room in the Dziubek cottage, weaving, tailoring, shoemaking and carpentry, cottages under straw roofs.
• Village workshops: an oil mill with a press, a fulling mill for making woollen cloth, a dye-house, a smithy, a mangle driven by a horse gear, a shingle workshop.
• Shepherds' huts with an exhibition on sheep herding, an apiary with log hives, a 19th-century school and the 18th-century Black Inn from Podwilk, which now houses the ticket office.

In summer the museum hosts folk festivals, fairs and educational activities for children; you can also hire a traditional Orava costume. The grounds are level and green, so a walk here suits families with small children too.

Practical information

Getting there. Zubrzyca Górna lies on regional road 957 between Jabłonka and Zawoja. From Zakopane the easiest route is via Nowy Targ and Jabłonka; the Chyżne–Trstená border crossing is also not far away. There is a car park by the museum. By public transport, take a bus towards Jabłonka or Zawoja and get off in Zubrzyca Górna.

Opening hours. May to September 9:00–17:00, October to April 9:00–15:00; last entry one and a half hours before closing. The museum is closed on 1 and 6 January, Easter Sunday and Monday, 3 May, Corpus Christi, 15 August, 1 and 11 November and 24–26 December.

Tickets. Permanent exhibition: standard 25 zł, reduced 15 zł; with the Polish Large Family Card 22 and 13 zł. Temporary exhibitions 5 zł. Self-guided visits use a free mobile app or a guide booklet sold at the ticket office; interiors can then be viewed through windows or the wooden grilles in the entrance halls. To go inside the buildings, book a guided tour: 120 zł per group of up to 30, about two hours, booked at least three days ahead. Monday is a free day: you may walk around the grounds, but without a guide and without entering the interiors. Private photography is free, filming costs 50 zł, drones only with the director's consent. Payment by card or cash. Information as of October 2026.

Nearby

Across the border, in Slovak Orava, it is worth seeing Orava Castle on its rock above the Orava river and the Museum of the Orava Village in Zuberec — it is interesting to compare life on both sides of the border. To the east lies the steam railway museum in Chabówka, and to the north the castle in Sucha Beskidzka.

Official website: orawa.eu

Photos: Zontarlj, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Pleple2000, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Przykuta, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.