The foundation of Olsztynek near Olsztyn is connected with the commander of the Teutonic Knights in Ostróda, commander – Gunther von Hohenstein, whose idea was to build a castle on a hill. Soon a town grew around the castle which received city rights in 1359 and was named ‘Hohenstein’ after its founder. Nowadays, Olsztynek is famous for numerous interesting, historical buildings such as: the Medieval castle with well-preserved fortifications from XV century and an old Catholic gelist church from XIV century. Also worth seeing is the historical Mrongwiusz’s House, the Interacive International World War 1 Camp Museum Stalag IB and the History of Olsztynek is located in the townhall. Nevertheless, the town is mainly known for the Museum of Land Engineering- the oldest and the biggest open-air museum –heritage park in this part of Poland. There is also a glasswork factory which is less known but worth visiting.
The open-air museum that is full of life
The open-air museum, covering an area of 93 hectares has a vast collection, in all 76 facilities of big and small rural architecture of Warmia, Masuria, Powiśle(literally near-the -Vistula) and Lithuania Minor. These are residental buildings, religious buildings, farm and industrial buildings of various functions, build and construction. The buildings are furnished with exhibitis showing traditional methods of work and rural ceremonies in the village in XIX and XX century. The Museum’s collection consists of over 10 thousand exhibits. Thanks to this vast collection, you can learn about living conditions and products made by our ancestors from the beginning. A farmhouses with animals like -hens, rabbits, sheep, goats, horses and a lot more, is especially attractive for children. Throughout the year, various events are held in the open-air museum for example: concerts, workshops, Christmas and Easter fairs, occasional fairs, Farmers’ fair (Targi Chłopskie), celebrations like- Great Day of Bees (Wielki Dzień Pszczół), Regional Herb Celebration (Regionalne Świeto Ziół) and more. It is a good destination for a school trip as educational offers are continously changed and enriched by new objects. The subjects of the lessons are varied, they are related to the history of Warmia and Masuria, rituals and customs of rural inhabitants and also the culture of different nationality. There are lessons on land engineering, folk costumes the and every day work. The most popular are lessons involving moulding or painting on glass. In the open-air museum there is a shop with souvenirs and a place where you can organise a conference, a company intergration event or even a wedding.
Museum of Land Engineering -Ethnographic Park in Olsztynek
Leśna street 23, 11-015 Olsztynek
A soul enchanted in the glass
Nearby Olsztynek, there is a little and unique on a European scale -Glassworks of Artistic Glass in Olsztynek (Huta Szkła Artystycznego w Olsztynku). Its uniqueness is that nowadays, it is rare for a factory to produce glasswork without using machines moreover, in an ecologic way. All products are made from waste glass, without the use of quartz sand and many other chemical additives. The Glassworks buys broken white glass and only those pigments are used which burn at 1100 degrees Celsius and they do not re-dye the used glass. The fireclay oven maintains a permanent temperature of about 1400 degrees Celsius which is used for glass melting and it is kept on continuous standby as it takes 10 days to achieve such a high temperature. Sightseeing is available as well as learning about the process of producing glass products step by step. You are presented with the subsequent stages of producing beautiful decorations. There is a factory shop where you can buy glass birds, elephants and other products. Those who want to ‘blow’ a glass product for a souvenir can do it but it is not as easy as it seems.
Glasswork of Artistic Glass (Huta Szkła Artystycznego w Olsztynku)
Krzysztofa Mrongowiusza street 38, 11-015 Olsztynek
www.huta-olsztynek.pl
