Kuyavian-Dobrzyń Ethnographic Park in Kłóbka

In Kłóbka, nicknamed the Pearl of Kuyavia for its hills, woods and lakes, stands the manor house where Maria Wodzińska (later Orpiszewska) spent the last years of her life; she was the only official fiancée of Fryderyk Chopin. Around the manor the museum has recreated an entire village: 18 rural buildings from the 18th to the early 20th century, including a forge, an inn, a windmill and a working watermill.

History of the open-air museum and manor

The open-air museum was founded in 1993 as a branch of the Museum of the Kuyavia and Dobrzyń Lands in Włocławek. It shows peasant life from the late 18th century to the 1930s in two sections: Kuyavian (two farmsteads) and Dobrzyń (one farmstead). According to the museum, the village covers about 5 ha, and the manor is surrounded by a historic park of 7.5 ha.

The manor was built after 1845 and extended in 1882–1884 by Maria Wodzińska Orpiszewska. Chopin proposed to her in Dresden on 9 September 1836, but the engagement never led to marriage. Maria was also a gifted painter: her watercolour portrait of Chopin became the basis of one of the best-known lithographs of the composer. After her husband died in 1881 she moved to Kłóbka to live with her niece and spent the rest of her life here.

What to see

• Three complete farmsteads with cottages, barns, pigsties, cowsheds and granaries; the oldest cottage dates from the late 18th century.
• The village centre: an inn, a school, a fire station and a small Baroque church.
• Craft workshops: a forge, an oil mill, a pottery and a post windmill.
• The manor with recreated gentry interiors and an exhibition on Maria Wodzińska's life and painting.
• The watermill on the Lubieńka river, rebuilt on its old foundations, with a fully working water wheel and grain-milling line.
• The manor granary of 1822–1830, with an exhibition on the old rural economy.

Practical information (as of October 2026)

• Hours: 1 May–31 October, Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–18:00; 1 November–30 April, Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–16:00; closed on Mondays. Also closed on 1 and 11 November, among other dates; last entry one hour before closing.
• Tickets: self-guided visit to the village and park without interiors PLN 10 / reduced PLN 7; village or manor with a guide PLN 18/14; all buildings with a guide PLN 25/18.
• Getting there: 6 km from the Kowal junction on the A1 motorway, near national road 91; about 80 km north of Łódź and 25 km south of Włocławek.

Tripto tip

Allow 2–3 hours for the village and the manor. The liveliest days are the "Life in the Old Village" folk festivals, held on the last Sunday of June, the first Sunday of August and the second Sunday of September, when the workshops come alive and folk ensembles re-enact old customs. Opening hours are shorter out of season, so in winter arrive before midday.