Case Study of an Old Farmhouse in Olszewo: Pro Memoria

In 2021, the authors performed a series of field surveys in Podlaskie region, northeastern Poland, looking for culturally significant specimens of vernacular architecture. The search in Brańsk commune (gmina Brańsk) have resulted with fin-ding a small but extremely interesting farmhouse, built some 80 years ago, i.e. in the early 1940s, with the use of locally obtained materials. In this article the authors present their findings; namely, they have documented the unique history and essential features of this farmhouse in terms of its construction, materials, layout, architectural form and adornment. All these aspects also witness a tangled history of the village and its surroundings, as well as intricacies of the local culture. An observed accumulative nature of the house and the uniqueness of its long history attribute the house with moral values of commemoration. Both that reason and the recently-observed rapid deterioration of the house compose a rationale for its documenting.