Discover Tokarnia

For a trip to Tokarnia, the Ethnographic Park is a specific cultural point of interest. It presents the cultural diversity of the Świętokrzyskie region and describes itself as Poland’s largest open-air museum. It was founded in 1976 and began operating in 1977. If you are looking for hotels for a stay in Tokarnia, you can consider the park as a cultural focus for planning your trip. The exhibitions bring together historic buildings, reconstructed interiors and themes of life in different regions.

Buildings, Collection and History

The collection includes more than 80 historic buildings, including farmhouses, barns, windmills, churches and manor houses. Reconstructed interiors and historic exhibits illustrate life in different regions. The site includes the Baroque Church of Matki Bożej Pocieszenia, dating from 1763. A historic barn, relocated here from the Bernardine convent in Chęciny, stands at the park entrance. It houses the ticket office, tourist information and a publications sales point. Before your trip, check whether these visitor services are currently available.

A tall oak cross in the park comes from the area around Włoszczowa. According to oral tradition, it was donated by the Maupa couple in 1918; the donors’ intention is unknown.

Crafts, Customs and Exhibitions

The park also features an exhibition of horse-drawn vehicles. The smithy from Radoska displays original sets of tools: tongs, hammers, punches and thread-cutting tools. During the tourist season, demonstrations and museum classes are held there to introduce visitors to the work of a rural blacksmith. As this program is seasonal, check the dates before your visit. A cottage in the loess sector shows part of a wedding ceremony centered on oczepiny, the ceremonial removal of the bride’s crown. The exhibition explicitly shows only part of the ceremony and focuses on this particular wedding custom.

The exhibition “Ocalić od zapomnienia. Jan Bernasiewicz, twórca Ogrodu Rzeźb” (“Preserving from Oblivion. Jan Bernasiewicz, Creator of the Sculpture Garden”), established in 1991, includes more than 600 sculptures, numerous photographs of Jan Bernasiewicz and personal mementos. The title can be translated as “Preserving from Oblivion.”

Getting to Tokarnia

The park is on the Kielce–Kraków route, 8 km beyond Chęciny in the direction of Kraków. Check the current route for your specific journey, as road conditions and distances may change. A regional tourism portal lists bus connections to Tokarnia from Kielce and Jędrzejów; the PKS bus stop is a considerable distance from the Ethnographic Park. Before travelling, check the transport operator’s current information and take the distance from the stop into account when planning.

Discover more destinations: Nowa Słupia, Ciecierze, Górno, Piekoszów, Daleszyce, Borków, Niestachów, Strawczyn.

For the main travel overview: Kielce.