Rural life at Pszczyna’s Open-Air Museum

Rural life at Pszczyna’s Open-Air Museum

Tourists visiting Poland often limit their stay to Kraków, the third most visited city in Eastern Europe. If they have enough time, they might make a short trip to Auschwitz, the Wieliczka Salt Mine, or the Tatra Mountains. Rarely do they venture beyond these destinations, but there’s another hidden gem worth spending a day or two exploring—a place known almost exclusively to locals.

Pszczyna is a small town in the Silesia region, well-connected to the rest of the country. You can get there by car (110 km from Kraków, 40 km from Katowice) or by public transport (trains to Pszczyna run several times a day). But why would you even want to go there?

This tiny town charms visitors with its architecture, delights with its cozy cafés and small restaurants, and exudes the vibe of a 19th-century “little Vienna.” Your sightseeing can begin at the Renaissance-style palace, once home to Princess Daisy—called by me the Diana or Evita Perón of Poland. Daisy was the first princess to sponsor public healthcare and pensions for locals, and she certainly deserves a separate post, which I’ll write someday.

The palace is surrounded by an enormous park with lakes, enchanting green corners, a tea house where nobles once sipped their hot beverages while watching swans, and an ice house—a charming pre-refrigeration invention used to store blocks of ice during the summer.

After visiting the palace, a short walk to the west will lead you to another large park, this time with a sort of open-air zoo. Don’t expect the typical zoo with narrow cages and sad, trapped animals. Here, next to a historical reconstruction of the hunting lodge of the von Pless noble family (the same family from the palace), you’ll find vast areas of forest and clearings reserved for deer and żubr—European bison, an extremely rare animal with a fascinating history. Today, there are over 10,000 bison in Poland, Belarus, and possibly some in Ukraine. However, this wasn’t always the case. After World War II, only about 50 bison survived, and the entire global population has been rebuilt from this small group.

The animal park doesn’t disturb its inhabitants—you can walk along marked paths or use observation platforms to view the animals from above.

The park sells single tickets as well as combo entries that include access to two attractions and the open-air museum, which I’d like to talk about today.

The "Zagroda Wsi Pszczyńskiej" open-air museum is located on the eastern side, about 20–25 minutes on foot from the animal park and close to the train station. This makes it a convenient first or last stop if you’re traveling without a car. However, don’t leave it for the very last minute, as the museum is large (almost 2 hectares) and you’ll likely want to spend extra time exploring its fascinating exhibits.

The museum focuses on the lives of villagers, offering a stark contrast to the nearby palace and prompting visitors to reflect on economic inequalities in the past (and present). It features replicas of some old buildings, like a mill with a reconstructed living space for the miller and old machines used to produce flour and bread. However, most of the buildings are authentic, carefully relocated here from surrounding villages. The oldest structures date back to the 18th century, around the same time the von Pless family was renovating their palace in Renaissance style.

Visitors can explore numerous barns filled with old tools and wagons, a school, a forge with metal decorations and a massive fireplace, sheep barns, a well, a hay shed, a masthouse, a granary, a chapel, and even a traditional fence with a 200-year-old gatehouse taken from an old church.

Among the many attractions in the open-air museum, two stood out to me the most. The first is the octagonal barn from Kryr village, where visitors can see an exhibition of traditional vehicles, including one of the most precious items—a 19th-century wooden funeral hearse. Imagine the semi-darkness of the building, the silence of the museum, and this majestic vehicle illuminated by a trickle of light streaming through the gaps in the wooden walls. It’s an unforgettable experience.

My second favorite is the living cottage from Grzawa village. This is perhaps the most educational spot, offering insights into the living conditions of locals not so long ago. The cottage consists of two bedrooms and a kitchen. The first bedroom, near the main entrance and farther from the kitchen (and therefore colder in winter), was for elders, who were provided accommodation and basic food in exchange for taking care of the children and helping with simple household tasks. The room features a massive wooden bed and an altar that takes up even more space.

Further down the corridor, closer to the kitchen, is the bedroom of the housewife and host, with a small bed for children and colorful local decorations. The kitchen, the heart of the home, includes a small table, chairs, dozens of tools, jars, bowls, and a stove used for cooking and heating the building.

If you fall in love with the place as I did, you can rent one of the newer buildings located in the middle of the museum, right next to the lake (did I mention there’s a lake here? No? Well, now I have). It’s a perfect venue for events like business conferences, weddings, anniversaries, and more. I can’t imagine a better setting for such occasions.

So, the next time you’re in Kraków, plan a day or two to visit Pszczyna. I’m sure you won’t regret it, and you’ll return with plenty of unique stories to share with your friends—stories from a place none of them have likely visited yet.

For more information, opening hours, pricing, visit the website