The settlement of the people of the Lusatian culture discovered on a promontory on Biskupinskie Lake dates back about 2500 years. An archaeological preserve was founded here before the Second World War, and grew constantly, now covering 24 hectares (59.3 acres). Tools, vessels, decorations, weapons, and remnants of plants that were cultivated and the skeletons of animals that were raised at Biskupin are all on display in the exhibition pavilion. The most impressive, however, are the fragments and reconstructions of parts of the wooden fortifications from the eighth and seven centuries B.C. These are two parallel rows of huts (eight to a row) surrounded by a wooden dyke and fortified embankments with a gate, watchtower and footbridge. The interiors of two huts have also been recreated. They are comprised of entryways and main rooms, in which there stands a bunk bed for the entire family and, closer to the centre of the room, a round hearth made out of fieldstone. The hut's door is woven from branches. Not far from the stronghold, a field has been planted with the same kinds of grain that would have been grown two and a half millennia ago, and paddocks where Polish ponies (tarpans), an ancient sheep breed, and a Polish breed of cattle (called "red"). Kilns of the Lusatian culture have also been reconstructed, as has been an oven for baking bread from the early middle ages, a barn, hayrick and stable. The exhibit is titled "The Dawn of History over Biskupinskie Lake".
Each year in the third week of September, the largest archaeological festival in Europe takes place: bread is baked from wheat ground on a quern (hand-mill), clay pots are fired, sap and tar are made, and battles are organised. Similar performances are put on in May and June as well.
Muzeum Archeologiczne w Biskupinie
Biskupin 17
Biskupin
Region: kujawsko-pomorskie
Phone: (+48 52) 302 52 80
Phone/Fax: (+48 52) 302 50 25
Fax: (+48 52) 30 25 420
WWW: www.biskupin.pl
Email: muzeum@biskupin.p