Find a region on the map
Find a region on the map
He was from one of the villages in the region, she came on a student exchange from Estonia. They fell as much in love with each other as they did with the landscape and the world of Poland’s eastern provinces, whose genes are so strongly inscribed with multiculturalism.
The vast majority of people in Poland have rural, peasant roots, but not everyone wants to remember this. Centuries of poverty, social inequality and the harsh experience of successive wars have done their part. It has become Marcin and Marina life mission to disenchant this culture and bring its beauty back to a wider consciousness.
16.09.2018 GORAJEC Piotrowscy Fot. Waldek Sosnowski WYLACZNIE DO UZYTKU PRYWATNEGO *** Local Caption *** WYLACZNIE DO UZYTKU PRYWATNEGO
To renovate the school and turn it into a much-loved temple of silence, tranquility and casual conversation for the insiders, they went to work in Ireland for 11 years. Even before their final return, they held their lavish wedding with country music in the backyard.
The energy at Marcin and Marina party was so amazing that they decided to repeat it a year later. What was born over time from the performances of friendly folk musicians was the Folkowisko Festival.
Folkowisko is a celebration of commonly understood folk culture. Hundreds of people now flock here from all over Europe for a few serene days in July, eager to hear live real white voice, stomp to the wild rhythm of traditional folk music for fiddle and drums, and see instruments as peculiar and unique to the region as the hurdy-gurdy.
They come to listen to the stories of “grandfathers” – rural wanderers, gather herbs, weave garlands and prepare lace cut-outs with their own hands, some of which hang today in the windows of the rooms of Chutor Gorajec.
“For me, Folkowisko is already my Polish family. It is a space of freedom where anyone can come," Kristina from the Czech Republic said of the unique event. Yuri from Ternopil, Ukraine, for whom the festival was his first trip abroad, added that he took away memories that he will keep for a lifetime.
The multilingual crowd at the Festival includes Spanish, Italians, but also Mexicans, Japanese and Canadians. Volunteers involved in the festival come from all over the country, leaving jobs at banks and corporations and sacrificing their vacations. Kids also have their zone of happiness at Folkowisko, running around the yard with mud-smeared faces. One of the high points, after all, is every year… a big battle of water-filled balloons.
Today Gorajec is home to a total of 41 people. Most of them came here recently, drawn by the magic of the atmosphere created by Marcin and Marina. “We have faster population and economic growth than Hong Kong and Singapore combined,” our hero jokes.
Despite the great success of the project to which they devoted their lives, however, some things remained untouchable and sacred.
There is no TV and no coverage on phones. The mighty expanses of fields and forests invite cycling trips, canoeing on the surrounding rivers, unhurried hikes with a basket of mushrooms (they grow like crazy here in autumn!). In the atmospherically decorated rooms of Chutor Gorajec stand hand-carved closets, rural kilims hang on the walls, dried herbs smell.
16.09.2018 GORAJEC Piotrowscy Fot. Waldek Sosnowski WYLACZNIE DO UZYTKU PRYWATNEGO *** Local Caption *** WYLACZNIE DO UZYTKU PRYWATNEGO
Polish Tourism Organization
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wien@pot.gov.pl
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