Zalipie is a small village in southeast Poland, considered as the prettiest village in Poland. This small village is known for its unusual tradition that the house inside and outside decorated with lovely floral patterns.
? Where does the tradition of painting houses come from?
It’s not entirely clear, but it might relate with a poorly ventilated stove. A long time ago, the interior of small and quite poor huts was covered with soot from a home stove. There was no chimney in the room, and the hearth area quickly blackened with smoke. Thanks to resourceful Zalipian women who came up with the idea of decorating darkened walls with white irregular spots to tidy up and brighten up their homes. After ventilation improved, villagers (mainly women) continued to conduct their folk art, moving from ceilings to walls to bridges and everything in between.
? The Painted Cottage competition
The Painted Cottage competition (called Malowana Chata) has been held regularly every spring since 1948 which continuously added new colorful floral patterns on cottage walls, continuing a tradition over 100 years old. Its initial purpose was to cover up damages after the war and put a new face on the village again. The starting date of the Malowana Chata has a very special meaning, as it began right after the WW2 ended.
? Felicja Curyłowa, a local art museum
Despite its beauty and attractiveness to tourists, the village is not an open-air museum but a place where people lived their normal lives, creating and developing their tradition. For visitors, there is a museum well worth a visit which was the three-bedroom cottage of a resident named Felicja Curyłowa. After her death, her beautiful house was turned into a museum where visitors can admire her work.
Zalipie is about 70 km from Krakow, if you are planning to travel to Krakow, don’t forget to stop by here!
Photo by mzphotos from Pixabay
