Wooden Granary in Olsztyn

At the northern foot of the castle ruins in Olsztyn, near Częstochowa, stands a building that spent more than two centuries somewhere else entirely. This larch-wood granary from 1783 was built on a manor farm in Borowno, taken apart beam by beam and, in 2007, reassembled below Olsztyn's fortress. Today it is one of the finest examples of wooden farm architecture in the Kraków-Częstochowa Jura and a stop on the Wooden Architecture Route of the Silesian region.

History: from manor farm to castle hill

The granary was commissioned by Franciszek Paciorkowski, owner of the Borowno estate, a village some ten-plus kilometres north of Częstochowa. It stood among the farm buildings of the estate, which were destroyed after the Second World War. The granary itself survived because it served as a warehouse for the local farmers' cooperative in Mykanów, but it later fell into decay. It had been entered in the heritage register as early as 4 March 1960.

In 1996 a private investor bought the building and dismantled it. Years later, in 2007, the granary was moved to Olsztyn, reassembled and reconstructed in its original form. A year later it won a distinction in the "Well-Kept Monument" (Zabytek Zadbany) competition run by Poland's General Conservator of Monuments.

What to look for

• Two-storey arcades – galleries on profiled posts run along the long sides, forming seven bays at the front.
• Two-storey log construction – rare in farm buildings. The upper galleries are sheltered by eaves resting on carved brackets.
• The date on the door frame – the year of construction is cut into the frame of the door leading from the hall to the room on the left (now the Green Room), and the founder's name is on the outer frame of the west door.
• A long beam – the upper floor rests on a hand-hewn beam cut from a single trunk, 19.6 m long.

Interesting facts

Originally the ground floor was divided into a central hall and two storerooms, while the upper floor was reached from outside, via the gallery. The ground-floor layout survives to this day. The granary now stands below Olsztyn castle on the Trail of the Eagles' Nests – a town that held municipal rights from 1488 to 1870 and only regained them in 2022.

Tripto tip

The granary houses a restaurant which, according to the Wooden Architecture Route, also organises carriage rides, sleigh rides and autumn Hubertus hunts on horseback. The property has recently been advertised for sale, so check that it is open before you go. You can look at it from outside at any time – 15–20 minutes is enough. Combine it with a climb to the castle ruins, a walk to the rocky hill of Biakło (nicknamed the "Little Giewont") and a look at the Baroque church of St John the Baptist.