Forestry Museum in Gołuchów

The idea of a museum devoted to forests was announced by the Galician Forestry Society as early as 1894, at the General National Exhibition in Lviv, but it took almost a century to open one. The Forestry Museum in Gołuchów was officially opened in October 1986 and today occupies five former farm buildings of the castle estate, scattered around the arboretum park. It is not a single hall but a walk from building to building — through forestry history, technology, art and nature.

History: a museum in search of a home

The Museum of Forestry and Wood Industry was established in 1968 and was originally meant to be housed in Kraków-Przegorzały, but permits and money were lacking. In the early 1970s the Pleszew district authorities proposed the former estate of Jan Działyński and Izabela Czartoryska in Gołuchów. In 1974 the park and buildings (apart from the castle, which has belonged to the National Museum in Poznań since 1951) passed to the State Forests, in 1976 the Forest Culture Centre was founded, and the first exhibition, "Forest Technology", opened on 29 June 1983 in the former stables. The museum was officially opened on 4 October 1986 in the restored Annex (Oficyna).

What to see

• The Annex (Oficyna) — converted from a former distillery in 1872–1874 and 1890–1895. Exhibitions on the history of forestry in Poland (with models of charcoal kilns, tar works and tree beehives) and on the forest in art, with works by Bronisław Chromy and Johann Elias Ridinger, among others.
• The Carriage House (1854) — the "Meeting the Forest" exhibition, including a display of 256 species from the Polish Red Data Book and the 19th-century "wood books" of Professor Carl von Hinterlang.
• The Sheepfold (1849) — "Forest Technology": equipment for making charcoal, tar, birch tar, potash and turpentine, plus historic measuring instruments.
• Dybul — a 19th-century cowshed with an exhibition on forest protection; it is named after Dybuł, a miller who lived here in the 17th century.
• The forester's cottage — a reconstruction of a forester's home from 1945–1955 and an exhibition on traditional forest beekeeping.

Opening hours and tickets

According to the Forest Culture Centre, the museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00–16:00 (last entry 15:15) and closed on Mondays. A ticket to all buildings costs PLN 25 (reduced PLN 18), and a family ticket for two adults and up to three children aged 7–18 costs PLN 40. Entry to the Annex or to the Carriage House with the Sheepfold costs PLN 15 (reduced PLN 10), and to Dybul or the cottage PLN 5 (reduced PLN 3). Ticket desks are in the Annex and the Carriage House, and Large Family Card holders get 50% off.

Tripto tip

The arboretum park, with around 80,000 trees, and the animal enclosure with European bison, fallow deer, Polish konik horses and wild boar are free, as is the herb and flower garden (daily 7:00–20:00). The Forestry Museum ticket does not cover the castle — that has a separate price list from the National Museum in Poznań. Allow 2–3 hours for all the exhibitions and do not arrive in the last hour before closing, as you walk between the buildings through the park. Groups of up to 30 can book a guide (PLN 120 for all buildings) by phone in advance.