The tradition that's been in place since the 1800's is the women in the tiny village secluded village of Zalipie, just a few kilometers from Tarnow in southeastern Poland, paint their homes in a delightful folk-art manner.Legend has it that smoke from the little house's cooking fires would leave soot marks on the walls so they attempted to hide the spots with paintings of vibrant coloured flowers.
Like most good ideas, this one's prevailed and in order to maintain the tradition, the village has a Painted Cottage Contest that's been held annually since 1948.
The best known folk-art painter was Felicja Curylowa and since her death in 1974 her three roomed cottage has been open to the public for viewing. If you get there and it's closed, just ask the next door neighbour for the key. Every flat surface inside her tiny house which is now the Felicja Curylowa Farmstead Museum is painted with colourful flowers.
I can almost smell them from here...
