Wincenty Witos Museum in Wierzchosławice near Tarnów
Wierzchosławice 698 69833-122 Wierzchosławice
check_circle In a room
check_circle Restroom available
Located near Tarnów, the Wincenty Witos Museum in Wierzchosławice is dedicated to the life and work of Wincenty Witos - one of Poland's most prominent politicians and three-time Prime Minister of the Second Polish Republic. He was an active leader of the peasant movement and a defender of peasant rights.
The museum is in the heart of Wierzchosławice, Witos's hometown, giving it authenticity and a deep connection to history. The museum is housed in Witos's family home, which has been restored and turned into a museum. It is a typical rural cottage that shows what daily life was like in the countryside during Witos's time.
Who was Wincenty Witos?
Wincenty Witos was born in Wierzchosławice in 1874. He was the son of poor peasants, which greatly influenced his later political and social activities. As a young man, he got involved in local socio-political life, and his leadership skills and ability to connect with ordinary people quickly made him popular. Witos became a leader of the Polish peasant movement, and his work significantly improved the situation of peasants in Poland.
Courtyard, Cottages, and Barn
The wooden cottage with a courtyard, barn, and a well in the middle of the yard is a faithful representation of a rural household from that period. A large part of the exhibition is dedicated to agriculture – the most important branch of the rural economy. In the barn, you can see farming tools used by peasants, such as plows, sickles, scythes, and flails for threshing grain. The exhibition also shows farming methods, crop harvesting, and food processing that were common in those times.
Rural Kitchen
The museum not only introduces us to the activist and politician but also shows what life was like in the countryside in the past. In the rooms, you can see typical rural kitchen equipment: a tiled kitchen stove, irons with a soul, a washboard, clay dishes, butter churns, and many other items used by rural housewives.
Rural Room
Through the hallway, we enter the rural room. Here, you can feel like you are in your great-grandmother's house. Pay attention to the oil lamp by the bed, the sewing machine, the tiled stove, and the furniture and interior decor, such as the wall hangings above the bed.
Painted rural chests are one of the most recognizable elements of traditional folk art in Poland. They served not only a practical function but also an aesthetic and symbolic one, being an integral part of rural cottages over the centuries. Hand-decorated and richly painted, they were everyday items used to store valuable items, clothing, bedding, and even a bride's dowry.
Old House in Wierzchosławice – a thatched rural cottage from 1814, the birthplace of Wincenty Witos.
Not far, about 500 meters from the museum in the Dwudniaki hamlet, there is also an old rural cottage from 1814 - the house where Wincenty Witos was born. It is one of the oldest monuments of this type in the Tarnów district. The house walls are made of wooden beams arranged in a corner structure. They were coated with clay on both sides and whitewashed with lime. The gable roof is covered with thatch made from rye straw.
Publish Date:
More in the Region Tarnów - okolice
