Museum of the Chochołów Uprising

Opposite the church of Chochołów stands the chalet of Jan Bafia — one of the oldest and wealthiest houses in the village, and since 1978 the seat of the Museum of the Chochołów Uprising, a branch of the Tatra Museum in Zakopane. It tells two stories at once: that of the 1846 uprising and of everyday life in a highland family.

A Podhale chalet

The timber house in the Podhale style consists of an entrance hall, the "black" room, the "white" room, a storage chamber and a loft above it. Chochołów has preserved its compact wooden buildings along the road from Zakopane, and the museum chalet lies on the Wooden Architecture Trail of Małopolska.

The "poruseństwo" of 1846

On 21 February 1846 highlanders from Chochołów, Ciche, Dzianisz and Witów took up arms against the Austrian authorities during the Kraków revolution. They were led by the organist Jan Kanty Andrusikiewicz and Fr. Leopold Kmietowicz, inspired among other things by the stay of the poet Seweryn Goszczyński in Podhale in 1832. The Austrians knew the plans, so the rising was quickly crushed — in the local dialect it came to be called "poruseństwo". The imprisoned rebels were freed only by the revolution of 1848.

The black and white rooms

The exhibition combines the history of the uprising with an ethnographic display. The black room shows everyday farm work and cooking; the white, representational room is famous for decorated furniture, glass paintings and ceramics — the world of a well-off highland family in the mid-19th century.

Practicalities

The museum is at Chochołów 75. It is open Wednesday to Saturday 10.00–15.00 and on Sundays 10.00–14.00; Mondays and Tuesdays are closing days. Check ticket prices on the Tatra Museum website. After your visit walk along the main road of the village, whose wooden buildings stretch along the Czarny Dunajec stream.