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Skanzen Kouřim

The open-air museum in Kouřim is currently the only open-air museum in the Czech Republic, gathering architectural monuments from the whole territory of Bohemia. Most of the open-air museum's buildings include an exhibition documenting the way of living and farming in the Czech countryside.

Information for visitors

Adress: Ruská, Kouřim
GPS: 49.99657810, 14.97282030
Skanzen Kouřim map

Interesting facts Skanzen Kouřim

The open-air museum can be found on the outskirts of Kouřim, in an area called Na hrázce, about one kilometer from the city center. In addition to the open-air museum, there are also extensive archeological sites in this locality, which document the old settlement of the Slavs.

History of the open-air museum

The Museum of Folk Architecture in Kouřim was founded in 1972 and was built as a rescue open-air museum focused on monuments of folk architecture from the floodplain of the Švihov dam. The concept of the whole open-air museum was changed soon after its opening, in 1976. The museum focused on folk architecture from all over the Czech Republic, and monuments from Bohemia and Moravia were imported into the open-air museum.

The unreality of this plan became apparent in the late 1980s. On the one hand, the museum did not have space for such a megalomaniacal plan, and then the whole set of buildings was not exactly homogeneous. After 1990, the area narrowed only to Bohemia, and in 1996 the area was declared a cultural monument.

After 2012, an agreement was concluded between the Lonský family and the Central Bohemian Region and the dispute over land in the museum complex was terminated, followed by the elaboration of a new concept and the completion of the museum.

Museum exposition

At present, the museum has nine major monuments of folk architecture, originating from Central, Northern and Eastern Bohemia. The most valuable here is a nine-sided timbered barn from Durdice from 1648, the oldest preserved monument of this type in Bohemia. Let's also mention the half-timbered cottage and granary from Budče or granary from Hrádek. The farm from Týřovice u Rakovníka from the 17th century also comes from the area of ​​Central Bohemia, and Eastern Bohemia is represented in the open-air museum by a smithy from Starý Bydžov, a rychta from Bradlecká Lhota and other buildings.

In all buildings there is an interior exposition, documenting housing and economy in the period from the 18th to the first half of the 20th century. There is also God's Passion, a machine for packing fruit tree seedlings or a winch well and other small monuments of folk architecture.

In the following years, it is planned to gradually add other buildings to the complex.

 

Author: Andrea Štyndlová