Dziedzictwo wsi wielkopolskiej - stan zachowania, zagrożenia oraz działania zmierzające do jego ochrony

The material heritage of the Great Poland village should be considered inseparable with the spiritual values. That what is now characteristic for Greater Poland is the result of the centuries-old processes. This is apparent both in the settlement, construction, customs, folklore and cooking. The settlement landscape of Greater Poland was shaped by the medieval settlement, the rise of the feudal manor, various colonization actions from the XVII to the XIX century, including the Olęder settlement, the activity of the Prussian Commission for Settlement. In the XIX century processes of enfranchisement in the form of pooling, separation, and parceling and the industrial development have led to reconstruction of the village. The land reform in the interwar period, from 1925 and the PKWN decree on agricultural reform of 1944 have completed the changes. The clear imprint in all areas of life left the boundary of partition, which divided for over 100 years the homogeneous body which was Greater Poland. Differences between the parts of Greater Poland belonging to the Prussian and Russian partition despite the passage of more than 90 years, are still visible. The rural heritage of Greater Poland is preserved in the spatial configurations, with gables of houses set to the rural road, especially in the southwestern Greater Poland. It's also still the readable Olęder settlement, in the Nadnoteckie areas (marsh lanes - Polish rzędówki bagienne), and in the vicinity of Nowy Tomyśl, Lwówek and Trzciel (the dispersed settlement) and in the Pyzdrska Forest (river floodplains on the Warta and Prosna). Great Poland can boast a very large amount of preserved palaces, mansions, residences, parks and farms. Many of them represent a high artistic, architectural and spatial composition level. The dense settlement network which was already during the Middle Ages caused that there are in Greater Poland a lot of churches, both brick and timber and half-timbered churches, often very valuable. The agricultural landscape is characterized by windmills, mills, sugar mills, distilleries. Monuments of the railways are also noteworthy. Many objects are individually protected by registration in the register of monuments. Only 9 ruralistic formations in the region are listed in the register of monuments. Only 1 cultural park around of Żerków and Śmiełów was established until now. It is necessary to mention the numerous risks, the unfavorable changes which are taking place in a village in the last 20 years. There are also many positive aspects of 145 numerous operations. Just even to mention the Local Action Groups, Village Renewal movement, the Culinary Heritage network, various folk festivals associated with traditional food, etc. This article outlined only in a summary form the problems of an extremely rich and diverse heritage of the village of Great Poland.