Wallachian Open Air Museum, Czechia
We visited Rožnov pod Radhoštěm located about 60 km south of the Polish-Czech border. On the side of this town there is a very interesting and exceptionally vast open air museum called in Czech language "Valašské muzeum v přírodě", devoted to the Wallach (Vlach) culture. Wallachs (Vlachs) were a pastoral people from Romania (from southern Carpathians) who, in search of places for pasturing their animals, and forced by the political situation (Turks occupying the Balkans) moved north and reached Moravia where they settled and they had their own, distinct culture. Its remnants can be seen in the open-air museum.
Parking lot nearby the museum
The open air museum has its own, spacious parking lot where you should leave the car (1; GPS: 49.464421, 18.155887). At the entrance to the parking lot you must take a ticket, which will then be used when paying at departure. During our stay there was only an automatic cash register. We are not sure if it was possible to pay by a card, so you should be prepared to have enough amount of Czech currency. We paid 70 CZK for parking lot, but prices may obviously change.
The ticket prices
The open-air museum consists of several adjacent areas:
- Dřevěné městečko (The Wooden Townlet),
- Mlýnská dolina (The Water Mill Valley),
- Valašská dědina (The Wallachian Village).
We were in the open-air museum exactly in the first April, that is, at off-season (off-season months are November, December and January to April inclusive). This means that it was not possible to explore the interiors of buildings. Instead, a discount coupon was available, allowing you to visit the water mill valley and the Wallachian village for only 60 CZK (reduced ticket only 30 CZK). It was very good news for us because we wanted to go above and beyond, and the weather for the first April was excellent. In the high season prices are respectively higher, but of course it allows you to explore the interiors. More details on the external website (note: only in Czech language!).
Our tour
We bought the tickets in the main building (A; GPS: 49.461472, 18.149210) and then went through another door leading to the open-air museum. One path led right up the hill towards Wallachian village; we left it for later, and now we went straight to the water mill valley. In fact, in the center of this area we found a big, interesting water mill (B; GPS: 49.462615, 18.152808). We think that during the high season the water actually flows through the designated channels and drives the water wheels. At the time when we were in the open air museum, unfortunately no mechanical equipment was launched.
After seeing the buildings in the water mill valley, we headed for the Wallachian village on the uphill path. The area of Wallachian village is really big and the tour will take 2-3 hours. There are many different buildings that can be close admired and you can even enter some spaces that are not dedicated for living (for example barns, external corridors). There is a smithy, various farming and residential buildings, a church, a draw well typical of the Pannonian steppe in Hungary (C; GPS: 49.461132, 18.154720), and at the very end of the area a beautiful windmill (D; GPS: 49.459762, 18.156408). In some buildings we find live animals such as geese, ducks and even donkeys. There are also cultural events in the Wallachian village, and there is an amphitheater that can accommodate about 800 people (E; GPS: 49.460990, 18.151034).
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