A Visit to the “Olender Neighbors” (Photos) | Województwo Kujawsko-Pomorskie

The picturesque setting of the Olender Ethnographic Park in Wielka Nieszawka provided the backdrop on Sunday (September 6) for the outdoor event “Among the Olender Neighbors.” Visitors could take part in handicraft workshops, potato harvesting, traditional food tastings and demonstrations of traditional crafts. We invite you to view the photo report from the event.

The Olender Ethnographic Park, a branch of the Marshal’s Ethnographic Museum in Toruń, is the first open-air museum in Poland dedicated to the Mennonites, Protestants from what is now the Netherlands who, from the 16th century onwards, settled the floodplains along the Vistula River.

Covering an area of five hectares, the park recreates an Olender village comprising three farmsteads. It features residential and farm buildings dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, relocated from the Lower Vistula Valley. Their interiors faithfully recreate the atmosphere of traditional Olender homes. Gardens and orchards add to the charm of the site. Another important element of the exhibition is the original Mennonite cemetery, preserved in situ and in use until 1945.

For years, the regional self-government has consistently supported projects carried out by our Ethnographic Museum. This spring, Marshal Piotr Całbecki, Ethnographic Museum Director Hubert Czachowski and Katarzyna Streich, Mayor of the Wielka Nieszawka Municipality, signed a letter of intent concerning the expansion of the Olender Ethnographic Park.

See: Letter of Intent for the Development of the Olender Ethnographic Park

The open-air museum has acquired additional land where a farmstead from Wielki Lubień (Świecie County), adjacent to the existing one, will be reconstructed. The museum will also receive a historic arcaded house from Stalewo (Elbląg County), which will be transported and reconstructed as the first building in the newly created Żuławy sector.

The regional self-government oversees 17 cultural institutions offering a wide range of cultural activities and events: