An architectural 1:10 model, a replica of a real cottage in Górna Orawa, created in the former modelling studio of the Ethnographic Museum in Kraków. It represents a rural hut with a single row of rooms, with a long side facing the road, used both for residential and livestock-keeping. 

Podhale bagpipes — known in the local dialect as koza, dudy, dudzicki and gajdy.
The Podhale bagpipes are a four-toned instrument from the reed aerophone group. They consist of a leather bag that is the air reservoir necessary to blow into the pipes, the bellows; a mouthpiece with which the piper blows into the instrument (duhac), a drone pipe (bąk), and a short triple melody and drone pipe on which the piper plays (gajdzica), set in a wooden casing resembling a goat’s head.

White cucha jacket, in local dialect: cucha bioła — a kind of traditional outer clothing worn by men in Podhale. The cucha jacket on display constituted an element of the Sunday best outfit. It was sewn and most likely decorated in 1966 by Czesław Styrczula-Maśniak, a well-known folk tailor from Dzianisz. A year later it was purchased for the collections of the Dr. Tytus Chałubiński Tatra Museum in Zakopane.

Highlanders kept tobacco (habryka) in leather pouches, the so-called miechóry, which were made of cat skin, sheepskin or rabbit skin. They also kept tobacco in pouches made from specially prepared pigs’ bladders, the so-called maharzyny, which were tied up with a leather strap. The tobacco stored in them did not lose its natural moisture and did not get mouldy.

Today’s male costume of the Szczawnica highlanders consists of a black felt hat decorated above the ruff, a linen shirt with a small stand-up collar without the neckband, a blue cloth waistcoat with embroidered decorations on the back and front tails, a short cucha jacket made of brown cloth, which was worn on the shoulder, a sleeveless sheepskin coat, white cloth trousers embroidered along the cuts at the bottom of the legs, at the upper cut as well as along stitches, and kierpce (hard-soled leather moccasins).

Highlander’s belt (in local dialect: oposek)
Opasek — a highlander’s decorative broad leather money belt tied with several metal buckles. This object comes from the Podhale village of Ząb (named Zubsuche until 1965). It was probably made in the 19th century but its manufacturer, place of completion, and time of last usage, are unknown. In 1961 it was purchased for the ethnographic collections at the Dr Tytus Chałubiński Tatra Museum in Zakopane.

The presented object is a pair of white baize trousers, Orava (originating from the area of Zubrzyca-Orava) made of white factory-made baize resembling home-spun cloth. One of the characteristic features which also occurs in other outfits of the Carpathian highlanders is two cuts at the waist, called zwory, trimmed with a black cloth trim, the so-called oblamek, with one red stripe of English cloth called wscyp z angliji [lit. an insert from England].

Although bagpipes are usually associated with Scotland, one must not forget that they were one of the most popular folk instruments used in old Poland!
They were also known in Podhale, where nearly every village had its piper who earned his living by playing this instrument...

Jan Wiktor (1890–1967) was a novelist and journalist, the eulogist of the landscape and history of the Sącz land. His relationship with the Pieniny Mountains began in 1913 when he arrived in Szczawnica for medical treatment. He actively participated in the life of the resort and for some time worked in the Resort Committee. 

The workshop of a pipe-maker, as well as a stud-maker, consisted of a small table on four wide spread legs, with a rather shallow drawer, bordered on three sides with low slats preventing tools and items lying on the table from sliding down. A small iron anvil was attached to the table; on top of the table, there were tools, scraps of metal, and rivets, as well as various bits and pieces which could be of use. The drawer was used to keep larger pieces of sheet metal, as well as unfinished and finished goods. The workshop was usually placed by the window in a dark room in the cottage, or it was taken outside on warm and sunny days.