As spring has finally come, it is worth considering a trip out of the city.

In Dziekanowice, only 35 kilometres from Poznań along the route to Gniezno, one can tour a picturesque open-air museum.  It enables the visitor to see what life was like in Wielkopolska several hundred years ago. 
In Dziekanowice, one can see several dozen houses and entire farms with farm buildings which were common in the countryside of Wielkopolska from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century. They include both households of rich peasants and artisans and poor people’s cottages. In a beautiful setting, on the shore of Lake Lednica, a total of 53 examples of traditional peasant, court, sacred and farm buildings have been assembled.
"During a ca. 2 hour-long walk among the fences of museum households, one can admire the equipment used in an old-time forge, visit a country cottage, stop in front of a country church, climb up a hill topped with various types of windmills which offers a breathtaking view on Lake Lednica, stop at a cemetery, peer into an 18th century chapel and then, after briefly breathing in the atmosphere of a manor house, relax in its park," encourage the managers of the museum. 
One of the oldest buildings in the open-air museum is a wooden cottage from 1602, which has been relocated here from the environs of Grodzisk Wielkopolski.

Another interesting element is an old farm from the environs of Krobia Stara, composed of three buildings with a frame construction (similar to timber framing), and covered with gabled roofs. The farm is comprised of a cottage from 1834, a livestock building and a stable from the same period.

In addition, an 18th century shrine from north-eastern Wielkopolska has been brought to the museum.

The majority of the buildings have also got original furnishings. Furniture is an important component of the exhibition. Especially worth mentioning are clothes chests with decoratively painted front boards, as well as beds with wood-carved headboards and benches with lace backrests. 
There are also numerous paintings, mainly religious in theme, framed in lavishly decorated wood, which are very often examples of fine artistic mastery.
Some of the most interesting exhibits also include ceramic figures (made of ceramics and plaster), as well as figures from household altars and shrines. The most valuable wooden sculptures, mostly covered with polychrome, date back to the middle of the 18th century. 
Another set of items is made up of ceramic kitchen objects.

They include mainly grey pots, jars and vessels crafted by country potters. 
Moreover, the collection features sets of tools and artisan workshop machines, used by blacksmiths, shoemakers, wheelwrights, coopers, potters and carpenters, as well as in household industry.

Photos:
1. A.Pelczyk, 2. A.Ziółkowski , 3,4 Muzeum Pierwszych Piastów na Lednicy (Museum of the First Piasts At Lednica)