Staff:
Conservators of the exposition: Jan Huptyś, Jacek Hańczewski

/Care of the open-air Museum is provided by Manager of the District Museum Archeological Department Krzysztof Gorczyca, MA/

Hidden in a forest on a peninsula of the Kownackie Lake and surrounded by swamps and a moat is a hardly accessible 'fortalice', in archeological terminology referred to as a 'cone fortified settlement'. The local tradition binds the structure to the times of Napoleonic wars and hence its name - 'Napoleonic Mound'. But the object is much older.
Objects of this type are presently quite unanimously interpreted by researchers as remains of fortified settlements of rich clerical families, making up materialistic and socio-administrative elite of the region. They appeared in the second half of the 13th century when the monopoly of rulers to construct fortifications was beginning to vanish. The first recorded permit to construct a private castle was issued by Bolesław the Bashful in 1252 and since that time through the next several centuries such fortified structures on mounds were becoming a permanent elements of the Polish landscape. Depending on the financial capability of their owners , they had various forms and scale and thus various defensive values. Usually they had a form of a wooden residential tower, or in the later centuries of a stone 'tenement' situated on a mound surrounded by a moat. In case of serious conflicts involving large military units, their defensiveness was rather problematic, yet quite important. They were constructed mainly in order to protect oneself from a foray of a notorious neighbor, marauders, family conflicts over the estate, mutinous peasantry, or later from a group of unpaid soldiers.
Such constructions on mounds were built in the period between 14th and 16th centuries and used sometimes until as late as the 18th century. In the modern times their defensive function was already insignificant, however it preserved its representative function as a luminous illustration of its residents' superiority over their serfs' dwellings. In the 17th century they mostly lost their residential function and were pushed away to the role of treasuries - granaries. A stone building was not actually adjusted to the "Polish customs" - a wooden dwelling certainly offered more comfort. Such considerations as well as a general shift in trends of the 17th century influenced preferences of the baroque Polish nobleman, who wished to live in a more spacious wooden manor house.. These were quite common phenomena in the Polish territory even among the moderately rich nobility. An example of an early residential-defensive settlement is a settlement in Kownaty Mrówki, Wilczyn District, Słupca County. Uncovered in 1923, it was excavated only in the years 1971-1972 by archeologists Ł. and A. Nowak from the District Museum in Konin.
It is located about 800 m south-east of a cluster of buildings in the Mrówki village and about 250 m north of the road to the Świętne village. It was located in a good defensive place, that is at the end of a peninsula at the southern shore of the Kownackie lake. From the north it is protected by the waters of the lake, while from the west and south by a muddy bay.
The fortified settlement was constructed by erecting a huge 7-meter high cone-shaped mound, with a lower diameter of 44 m and an upper diameter of 18 m. It is additionally surrounded by a 2-meter wide moat joining the lake from the north and thus ensuring a constant supply of water. In the course of the excavations at the top of the mound in the south-western part, remains of a pentagonal tower were uncovered (the length of the side about 3 m). It was the main structure of the settlement. North of it a cellar was uncovered, which probably was situated below another building, while south of it - remains of a smithery. The front was surrounded by a palisade.The fortified settlement was inhabited for a few generations - from the end of 13th until the middle of the 14th century. At that time the object was consumed by fire which probably was the result of some fights. It is still unknown which family the seat should be linked to. In the second half of the 14th century and in the 15th century it was occupied by the Wilczyński family of the Poraj coat of arms, the owners of Wilczyn and Kownaty. The best known of them is Mikołaj, a Kalisz miecznik between 1358-1364. Determining previous possessors and circumstances of the settlement's destruction require further archival studies. Numerous artifacts found in the course of the excavations reflect everyday life of the inhabitants. Military equipment such as heads of crossbow bolts, cranks for tautening crossbows, spurs (including a child's spur), elements of horse-riding equipment unambiguously indicate a knight-like character of the seat and can be associated with the owners. An indirect proof of their affluence can be a scale pan used for weighing precious metals, as well as fragments of quite rare as for those times glass dishes. Remains of a smithery, semi-finished goods made of horn, farm and carpentry equipment such as sickles, a gimlet or an axe determine the activities of the landed estate servants. On the basis of found bone remains of animals, it was determined that the inhabitants ate mainly meat of domestic animals (70.9%), especially pork and beef, but also game dishes were often placed at their tables (29.1%). They hunted wild boars, roe deer, hares, deer; for fur they hunted badgers and otters. Out of poultry they ate hens. Living close to a lake, they must have fished, but only a small amount of remains has been preserved until today. The buildings were guarded by dogs of undetermined breed.
In 1973 the settlement was transformed into an open-air archeological museum. The author of the project was architect Z. Łabuda, who worked under the supervision of Ł. and A. Nowak. The moat was cleaned, and the tower, hut and palisade on top of the mound reconstructed. Additionally, an entrance gate and a small bridge over the moat were built. Two stories of the tower house a small exposition displaying some of the found artifacts. The highest story is an observatory deck. Near the mound there are two fisherman shelters and a replica of a wooden smithery, which may suggest that there had been more facility buildings. The whole provides an image of a medieval knight seat - over a hundred of such seats have been discovered in the Wielkopolska Province. So far this is the only open-air museum of such a type in our area. The settlement is open for visitors as a branch of the District Museum in Konin.

Krzysztof Gorczyca