Monuments of Warmia and Mazury [antikvár]

f i' [li-' ,•'( • I i I, I' h, I'.' 11 ' , I'(' I I « i !I'ri' ''I': - I ! i / , I: I !' Jf ' .IJi ' I '! "I" ' ''!I','i',,',. I ¦ ' ¦ I i I : I /¦, ; I'l ' 1 ¦ ' I I. '' ' a t'f 11 i.f. u Every year crowds of tourists come to Olsztyn Province in search of water and sunshine, silence and rest Year by year thousands of tourists range the Olsztyn countryside fascinated by its natural beauty; numerous floral and faunal reserves, a varied sculpture of its landscape, gorgeous lakes and large forests. These natural conditions make Warmia and Masuria one of Poland's most attractive tourist regions. As the equipment of tourist centres improves steadily with each passing year, various forms of rest and hiking become more and more easily available to people. However, participants in tourist outings, vacations, recreation summer camps, bivouacs as well as individual tourists, do not always realize that monuments of architecture and arts are also an integral part of the colourful landscape of Warmia and Masuria. These unique proofs of the material culture and national history have lasting artistic and scientific values and so they fully deserve to be popularized among wide circles of the society and introduced to an ever increasing number of tourists. Olsztyn Province belongs to those regions of Poland that are most richly endowed with historical monuments. We find here most outstanding specimens of the Gothic and Baroque periods, although other styles are also well represented. Thus we come across the most beautiful exhibits of 19-th century urban and rural wooden architecture, many stylish, and most charming Masurian cottages, farm buildings of the Vistula region and Warmia, waiermills, windmills, Cathohc and Orthodox churches and chapels. All the above mentioned monuments perfectly fit the background of the landscape and give it a peculiar, unforgettable beauty. To make provision for a more thorough study of the value and technical conditions of historical monuments all objects of interest have been specified and classified into appropriate groups. This undertaking embraced the entire territory of Olsztyn Province. In the course of classification and inventories experts have come across 50 urban complexes of the 14 th - 18 th centuries being of great historical importance. Thirty of them showed parts or even complete units of medieval town fortification works, mainly of the 14 th century.