Olender Ethnographic Park in Wielka Nieszawka

The Olender Ethnographic Park in Wielka Nieszawka is the first museum in Poland dedicated to Olender settlements developing since the sixteenth century. At first, these were the settlers from the Netherlands and Friesland - members of the Protestant Mennonite group who could freely profess their faith in the tolerant Kingdom of Poland. With time, the term olender/olęder (Hollander) has lost its ethnic meaning and started to be used in relation to other settlers - Germans (Protestants) and Poles (Catholics) who enjoyed the privileges based on the law system introduced originally for the settlers from the Netherlands.

The main aim of the Park is to recreate a fragment of the cultural landscape of the Vistula village from the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century. The area of over 5 ha is covered by a reconstructed Olender village of the most characteristic composition, so-called rzędówka bagienna (linear layout). There are 3 full farms consisting of 6 historical dwelling and farm buildings.They have been transported from the area of Lower Vistula Valley and originate from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These objects are the most valuable, preserved up to today, examples of architecture characteristic for Olender settlements. They are surrounded by farmlands, meadows, gardens and orchands.