Painted houses in Zalipie: Polish village open-air museum

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Kievans are proud of the Pirogovo Museum of Folk Architecture, Lviv residents are proud of the Shevchenko Guy. Both there and there you can see old Ukrainian huts with painted walls and embroidered towels. True, these are all open-air museums, but the Polish village of Zalipie is unique in that painted houses here they were not preserved as exhibits. The villagers continue their long-standing tradition by lavishly decorating houses and outbuildings.

Women began decorating houses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original Zalipka ornament attracts art critics, self-taught artists apply bright floral patterns to the walls of houses, doors, shutters and even the roof. All Zalipye is a sheer riot of colors.

It is not known exactly how the tradition of decorating houses began. There is a version that initially women tried to paint over soot spots on the walls. The bleached oven itself was also decorated. Ash, clay, lime, brick - these unpretentious materials were used to make paints, mostly flowers.

Now the drawings have acquired an exclusively decorative value, since soot stains in the kitchen of a modern housewife can no longer be found. The drawings of the Zalipski craftswomen have become more complex and sophisticated. They decorate not only houses, but also barns, doghouses, wells, and even reached the bridge across the local river.

In the old days, artists made their own brushes, often using cow hair for this. As a rule, the drawings on the houses were updated once a year for the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Since 1948, the annual holiday "Malevana Khata" has been held in Zalipye. Local artists compete in their skills, as a rule, craftswomen manage to create more and more flower arrangements, as well as finish those that were created in previous years.

Speaking about this long-term tradition, one cannot fail to mention the name of Felicia Tsurilova, who lived here at the beginning of the 20th century. She made an enormous contribution to the development of the Zalipsky drawing; in her house-museum, bedspreads, pillows, furniture covers, painted with flowers, are still kept.

Despite the fact that Zalipye is a real open-air museum, this place is still a novelty for tourists. Perhaps this is for the best, since the atmosphere of village peace and quiet is still preserved here.