Folk Museums

In my previous article I mentioned few open-air museums. Those folk museums show a life of village people in Slovak Republic, especially buildings, lifestyle, customary food and traditional habits. The museums are situated in original folk villages with farmer houses, churches and mills in natural areas. During the summer months a lot of activities take place in there, like traditional manufacture and folk crafts.

One of these museums is the Museum of Liptov Village in Pribylina. The area of Liptov in old days was very poor, but with very rich historical and cultural traditions. Tourists can find this in expositions, which is very ordinary. Also there is a lot of craft furniture, small things decorating the houses, like glass, books, porcelain, textiles. There used to be open markets, fairs, and there is a school nearby where children, from the neighborhood, used to go to school. Nowadays many tourists visit this museum every day and especially on Sundays when they can join the program of activities: horse-back riding, folk dancing, singing, they can also try the traditional craft manufacturing or learn the technique. And more every museum has its own shop where you can buy unique souvenirs.

Also very interesting place to see is Spania Dolina Valley, which is about 8 miles from the city Banska Bystrica, situated in the south of Nizke Tatry - Low Tatras. This valley is full of green trees and meadows. The first written reference is from 1263 and its first name was Montana. It has a lot of historical names, but as Spania Dolina Valley has been very popular in whole Europe. This is a mining area, so even the folklore has an influence of mining industry. A lot of mining buildings and houses are over 500 and 600 years old. One of the oldest memories is the first old-fashioned 30-mile long water supply, which was made out of wood. The traditional habits and events of Spania Dolina Valley are mining traditions. This museum is very famous for its mining craft and souvenirs, where people can buy them.

And a very small village in the area of Dolny Kubin in the north of Slovak Republic is Podbiel. In 1977 this village become a memorial reservation of folk architecture. It has 79 folk architectural houses in 49 courts. Nowadays this village is very famous for producing of home made carpets and rugs.

However there are a lot of open-air museums in Slovakia, but I have picked only a few of them to present the folklore more. I will also write about festivals, which are part of folk tradition so come back.

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