Museum of the Kysuce Village in Vychylovka

In the picturesque valley of Chmúra, near Nová Bystrica, stands an exceptional open-air museum. The Museum of the Kysuce Village was founded in 1974 with one clear goal - to save precious buildings from flooding. When the reservoir was being built here, the entire villages of Riečnica and Harvelka disappeared under the water forever. However, their most precious wooden houses, barns and outbuildings found a new home here. Today you can admire thirty-four authentic buildings from all over Kysuce. Walk among the nineteenth-century log houses, visit a traditional tavern from the village of Korňa, where the staff in Kysuce costumes will treat you to regional dishes. You will also see two working water mills, a brick chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary from Zborov nad Bystrica and even typical shepherd's dwellings called cholvarky. A real jewel is the historic narrow-gauge railway with a winding system - the only one of its kind in Europe that is still in operation. This mountain railway originally connected Kysuce with Orava and was used to transport timber. Today it takes you on a romantic route almost four kilometres long right through the museum grounds. The museum faithfully captures not only the architecture, but the entire way of life of the Kysuce people from the time of our ancestors.