Dworek Marii Dąbrowskiej w Russowie

About the museum

Maria Dąbrowska (1889–1965), author of the novel “Noce i dnie” (Nights and Days), was born in Russów near Kalisz as the eldest daughter of an estate administrator. She spent her childhood and youth here, and for the rest of her life she felt bound to the Kalisz region, as she expressed in her works, memoirs and “Dziennik” (Diary). The writer’s family home never belonged to her parents.

The idea of setting up a museum arose after the writer’s death in 1965. In the restored manor house, the Izba Pamięci Marii Dąbrowskiej (Maria Dąbrowska Memorial Room) opened in 1971, and in 1979 the site became a branch of the Muzeum Okręgowe Ziemi Kaliskiej. The building, which had been damaged after the war and had previously served as a school and housing for tenants, was renovated over the following decades, and its last part was recovered in 2010–2011. The adjoining park, covering 4 hectares, has been restored to its landscape character since the late 1980s.

In the park, an ethnographic exhibition with historic rural buildings of the Kalisz region was created in 1988–1998. Three relocated structures – a cottage from Takomyśl, a barn from Godziesz and a cowshed from Skrzatki – form a farmstead from the late nineteenth century. The collection also includes a granary from Russów dating from the second half of the eighteenth century, a labourer’s cottage from Dobrzec and a manor granary from Kuźnica Grabowska from 1800.

Highlights

• The manor house where Maria Dąbrowska, author of “Nights and Days”, grew up
• Park of 4 hectares, restored to its landscape character
• Open-air museum with six relocated rural buildings from the Kalisz region
• Eighteenth-century granary from Russów, known as the “sołek”
• Open-air exhibits accessible to wheelchair users thanks to a mobile platform

Permanent exhibitions

• Ekspozycja literacka o Marii Dąbrowskiej – The interiors of the manor house in Russów, devoted to the life and work of the writer, who spent her childhood and youth here.
• Ekspozycja etnograficzna w parku – Six relocated rural buildings from the Kalisz region, including a late nineteenth-century farmstead, a labourer’s cottage and granaries.

Founded

1971

Operated by

Muzeum Okręgowe Ziemi Kaliskiej w Kaliszu

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Admission is free on Tuesdays.

The guided tour service cannot be combined with the combined ticket.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The manor house is accessible via a ramp for wheelchairs. Paths in the park are paved, and wheelchair users can be taken into the open-air farmstead by a mobile platform – the visit must be announced in advance by telephone (+48 62 769 12 65 or +48 669 996 518). The manor house has an accessible toilet, and staff assist blind and partially sighted visitors; deaf visitors can communicate in writing. Assistance dogs are welcome. Larger groups of wheelchair users are asked to notify the museum in advance.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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