Museums of folk architecture in Slovakia are almost the main peculiarity of tourism in this country. It’s likely that Slovak people anticipated the fashion on the rest in rural environment half a century before. In the epoch of “the Iron curtain» they prepared a fundamental basis for the development of agro-tourism in their country.
On their first coming to Slovakia a lot of tourists hear the word “skanzen” for the first time and even don’t suspect of its definition. Skanzen is a so-called museum in the open air where all possible ethnographical exhibits are shown off (beginning from the houses to women’s jewelry) which belong to the ethnos of any historical region of the country.
Slovak people represent a uniquely colorful nation. There are their own unique traditions and customs practically in every Slovak village. That is why the expositions of skanzens are incredibly fascinating, living images which demonstrate the way of life of the former and present day Slovak people. Except for these expositions several festivals and holidays are organized in the museums: the Day of the potter, the day of the weaver, the Day of the folk music etc.
Skanzens are well-known in the town of Bardeiov, in the village Zuberetc (the region of western Tatry), in the place The Old Lubovnya and a skanzen not far from the town Martin which is the part of Slovak national museum.
The museums of Vlkolinec and Banska Shtiavnica are unique in their kind. The village Vlkolinec in the suburbs of the town Ruzhemborok is well-known as an exceptionally original collection of samples of wooden folk architecture. The peculiarity of Vlkolinec is that all the houses in the village are built by miner’s families and a lot of people live there till nowadays.
The museum of mining business in Banska Shtiavnica is an absolutely unusual and unique in its kind not only in Slovakia but in all the Central Europe. Its exposition is divided into two parts: ground and underground and it takes the territory of the mine where an ore was mined in the 16-th century. The exposition on the ground gets us acquainted with the buildings and means of labor of medieval miners and if you go under the ground you can walk along its route via which the ore was taken to the surface. The length of the route is 1,3 kilometers. The museums of Vlkolinec and Banska Shtiavnica are listed in the Unesco as a world-wide heritage.
