The Manor House in Łopuszna

Łopuszna Manor House (Łopuszna is pronounced roughly "wo-POOSH-nah") is one of the finest surviving wooden manor houses of the Polish gentry, a whitewashed single-story home with a tall shingled mansard roof, set at the foot of the Gorce Mountains about 10 km east of Nowy Targ in southern Poland. Since 1978 it has been a branch of the Tatra Museum in Zakopane. It is an easy and rewarding stop on the road between the Tatras and the Pieniny Mountains, with a 15th-century wooden church right next door.

History

A farmstead existed here from the 16th century, but the manor itself was built around 1790 by Romuald Lisicki, a veteran of the Bar Confederation, an 18th-century noble uprising. It later passed to Leon Przerwa-Tetmajer and his wife Ludwika, and then to their daughter Kamila and her husband Kazimierz Lgocki, who remodeled the house in 1892, plastering the log walls and adding round wooden columns to carry the heavy roof.

After the failed November Uprising against Russia (1830–31), the Romantic poet Seweryn Goszczyński hid here; his travel journal contains the earliest published description of the manor. Between the wars the Lgocki family ran a modern farm with the largest sheepfold in the Tatra foothills. Nationalized after World War II, the estate decayed until the Tatra Museum took it over in May 1978 and restored it.

What to see

• The manor, with a period kitchen. A temporary exhibition about growing up in the Tatra region, "Little Farmers: Childhood Below the Tatras," runs until June 1, 2027, while the permanent display is being renewed.
• The "Gacek" cottage, named after the pen name of poet Bohdan Zaleski, who lived in it.
• The cellars of a former storehouse where Goszczyński stayed.
• The Klamerus family cottage of 1887, moved here by the museum; its interior is currently closed, but you can see it from outside.

Opening hours and tickets (as of October 2026)

Open Wednesday to Sunday, 9 am–4 pm (last entry 3:30 pm); closed Monday and Tuesday. Tickets are 10 PLN standard and 5 PLN reduced (Polish złoty); a guided tour costs 30 PLN. Permanent exhibitions are free on Thursdays. A weekly combined ticket covers all Tatra Museum branches (69/34 PLN). Conservation work is ongoing, so it is worth calling ahead (+48 535 668 777). Allow 45–60 minutes.

Practical tips

• Pair the visit with the wooden church, a few minutes' walk across the Czerwonka stream.
• Labels are mainly in Polish; the museum website has an English version.
• Groups of 15 or more should book ahead.

How to get there

Łopuszna is on the road from Nowy Targ toward Krościenko and the Pieniny, and the manor is visible from the road. It is about 40 minutes by car from Zakopane and under two hours from Kraków.

Is it worth visiting? Yes, if you like rural architecture or are driving between the Tatras and the Dunajec Gorge rafting area.

Nearby

• Holy Trinity and St. Anthony Church, a 15th-century wooden church across the stream.
• Gorce National Park, with trails to Turbacz.