Sioło Budy Open-Air Museum

In a cottage built in 1836 and moved to Budy from near Kleszczele, a wooden chimney still works – according to its owners, the only one of its kind preserved and in use in Poland. The "Sioło Budy" open-air museum is a small farmstead on the edge of the Białowieża Forest, recreating a homestead from the first half of the 19th century: a thatched roof, a woven willow fence, a sweep well and blue shutters.

Where the name comes from

In eastern Polish dialects sioło means a settlement, and buda is an archaic type of dwelling – a half-dug-out hut with an open hearth. As late as the interwar years, soldiers of Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz's army, interned here by the Polish authorities, lived in such huts. The village of Budy itself began as an industrial settlement inside the forest: in the 18th century Antoni Tyzenhauz set up works here producing charcoal, tar, birch oil and potash, bringing in workers from Mazovia. The villagers were exempt from serf labour but took part in royal hunts instead. In 1941 the Germans "pacified" the villages inside the forest – houses were burned and people expelled; after the war they returned and rebuilt their farms.

What to see in the farmstead

The buildings were moved from Dobrowoda in Kleszczele municipality. This borderland homestead, of the isolated-farm type known as a chutor, consists of:

• The 1836 cottage with a through hallway, a large main room and a bedroom; inside there is a stove and the working wooden chimney, and the roof has been thatched with straw from the very start.
• A pigsty and a barn.
• A sweep well.
• An original woven fence made of willow branches – once very common in this area.

Tripto tip

The museum is part of the Sioło Budy guesthouse (Budy 41), so a night in a wooden house combines easily with a visit. According to the local tourist organisation, the best time to come is at the weekend between 11:00 and 16:00, when Włodzimierz Muśko shows visitors around and looks after the little garden in front of the cottage; a guided visit at other times needs to be arranged in advance. Half an hour is enough for the farmstead itself. Do walk to the end of the village towards Teremiski, where there is a cluster of oaks with trunks more than 4 metres round. Budy lies on the road from Białowieża to Teremiski, surrounded by the Białowieża Forest.