Marysin/Jukubowice Koninskie

These are some settlements just outside the northwest corner of Lublin. It consists mainly of scattered and small clumps of farmsteads and homes scattered across some gently undulating arable land. The main purpose of the settlement has traditionally been agriculture, but now there is an intrusion of houses built for some people who live and work in the city, often as weekend retreats. As with many 'villages' in Poland, it is better to describe them as settlements as they often do not have a core, they are just farmsteads and cottages scattered across the landscape, each place relating only to its piece of land. On a map it is very often difficult to know where one settlement starts and another finishes.

At the bottom of the page is a map of this settlement. The numbers on the map relate to the pictures and descriptions below. Consider this page as a walk through Marysin.

1. Starting from the western edge of the settlement, we can see that there are 'arms' of modern housing for the new rich of Lublin. These extend in arms westward from the main north-south road that defines the western border of the settlement. It is a bit like surburban housing from other countries because, although all the houses are individually commissioned, most of them coform to the same features. So, whilst they may differ from each other in size, white walls, generally red roofs, a 2 pillar porch and a garage in a prime position are the features which most of them enjoy. For the really adventurous, there are other colours available in the plastic roofing tiles they use.

2. As we proceed in an easterly direction along the dusty track, we come across some small farmsteads, each attached to the strip fields it farms. This is a good example of a brick house from the 1950's or 60's. It is essentially a brick cube with windows and a pitched roof. Many houses from this period went one step further and had a flat roof. Being adventurous in design was not encouraged during this period of Polish history, many buildings being quite introverted in there exterior style, concentrating the energies towards the hidden interiors.

3. A little further on is a very small cottage, probably owned by elderly farmworks. I say elederly as the building and garden are slowly being engulfed by the surrounding bushes and trees, a fair sign that the occupants no longer have the energy to continously cut back the encroaching vegetation.

4. Another farmstead, this time with one cow. The cow generally supplies milk to the farm with some litres left over for the the farmer, or his wife, to sell at one of the small markets in Lublin. Often these small markets are no more than a low wall near some shops. The farmers wives come in in the morning with some baskets of goods (maybe eggs tied up in plastic bags, soft fruit, milk in cleaned out 1 litre fizzy drink bottles etc). Here the cow is eating the green remains of the crop in one strip field.

5. Now we come into contact with tarmac again for a few moments at the northern end of a road leading out of Lublin. This is quite convenient as it is the terminus of one of the city buses. Right at the end of the tarmac we can see someone is constructing a new house. One of the most popular features of modern Polish housing is the 2 pillar porch. Traditionally, the pillars should be wider in the middle than at the top or bottom, but so long as the design has 2 pillars to the porch, most people don't seem to be able to tell a good design from a bad one.

6. Continuing eastwards along our track, we pass another farmstead on our left hand side. Again it is a  brick built house, this time almost definitely from the 1960's or perhaps early 1970's. Some kind of simple geometric design in the plasterwork is quite common in houses from this period.

7. On our left we can see that the land is starting to form a small valley, and here we have a farmstead and almost all the land it farms. some of the produce from a farm like this will be sold, together with the produce from other nearby farms, to a wholesaler (maybe even a factory). Some of it will be sold directly by the farmer or his family in one of the many small markets in Lublin.

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