Władysław Orkan Museum in Rabka-Zdrój

The Władysław Orkan Museum is housed in a wooden church in Rabka-Zdrój, built in 1600-1606. The larch church has kept its altars, organ and polychromes, and inside it shows the art, costumes and rural crafts of the region. A few hundred metres away stands Rabkoland, so the museum complements a family day in Rabka well.

A wooden church from the early 17th century

The larch church was built in 1600-1606 and consecrated in 1634 by Bishop Tomasz Oborski. The earlier church, founded in 1565 by the castellan Spytek Wawrzyniec Jordan, did not survive to the end of the 16th century. The tower has a post-and-frame construction from the 18th century, without nails, and a Baroque cupola with a lantern. Of the furnishings, the Rococo side altars, a Neo-Baroque high altar, an organ with a gallery from 1778 and the polychrome by Andrzej Antałkiewicz from 1802 have survived, along with uncovered fragments of a painting from 1628.

What the museum shows

The museum was opened in 1936 on the initiative of the Tatra Society. The exhibition occupies five rooms and includes about five thousand exhibits from the 19th and 20th centuries: objects connected with art, clothing, crafts and village farming, musical instruments, toys and mementoes of the writer Władysław Orkan, including two of his pastels. The institution also has a branch, the Orkan Biographical Museum “Orkanówka” in Poręba Wielka.

Events at the museum

Since 2000 the museum has organised the series “Highlander Culture Festival” and “Orkan Culture Festival”. It also runs educational activities and concerts. In 2016 it received the Bronze Medal “Gloria Artis” for Merit to Culture.

Practical information

• Address: ulica Władysława Orkana 2, Rabka-Zdrój.
• According to the museum's website, in July and August it is open daily from 9:00 to 17:00, from May to June and in September daily from 9:00 to 16:00, and from October to April from 9:00 to 16:00 with a break on Mondays. Check the hours before your visit.
• The visiting rules published on the museum's website apply.