The large open-air Museum of the Slovak Village is situated on the outskirts of the northern city ofMartin in Slovakia.
History
The first idea of the open-air museum was put forward by Ján Geryk, the SNM secretary, on 16 April 1931 and it was thought to be built in Opleta. The museum was planned around Scandinavian designs of open-air museums and was mentioned to be real-life place for whole families: they would live and work there "in the old way of life". Finally, the museum was established in the 1961, by the Slovak National Museum in Martin and in 1964-66 the 218 objects from 113 villages were selected to create the reconstructed village settlements from 13 regions. The foundation stone of the Museum of Slovak Village was laid on 3 September 1968. The first group of buildings was of the Orava region and was open to public in 1972.
Objects
The museum presents northwest Slovak traditional folk architecture, typical in its habitation and lifestyle of traditional rural communities in Slovakia from the 19th to the early 20th century. In an area of 15,5 hectares there are 129 dwelling, farm, technical, social, and religious buildings. Besides many domestic buildings, there are for example croftlofts, a pub, a village store, a garden house, a firehouse, a wooden Renaissance bellhouse, an elementary school, and an exhibition on Romano Drom. In this open-air museum, visitors can see interesting technical objects – such as vegetable oil production, worsted production and weaving cloth. These buildings are from different Slovak regions – Orava, Liptov, Turiec and Kysuce-Podjavorniky. 22 objects are furnished and open to visitors. Agricultural exhibitions show the cultivation of traditional plants, trees, spices, medicinal and magic herbs. One of the most interesting objects is Catholic church from Rudno with its decorative paintings and Baroque altar with statutes of St. Stephen, St. Nicolas and Virgin Mary inside.
Other
At the Museum of the Slovak Village, various events are held every year. These whole-day events show or reconstruct traditional professions, production and handicrafts, ceremonies, traditional manners and folklore. For instance, Easter in the Countryside, Days of Firefighters, Children Sunday, Michal's Market or Christmas in the Countryside.
