Carriage of the Opole region

Horse-drawn carriage from Cieszyn Silesia manufactured at the beginning of the 20th century. It comes from a collection of almost a hundred horse-drawn vehicles collected by the Łańcut museum, which remains open. It includes vehicles ranging from representative to rural ones, from the eighteenth all the way to the 20th century. They are mainly the result of museum purchases; only very few ones were donated. Already belonging to the museum, the majority underwent general renovations or refurbishments. The carriage from Podolia, which the museum purchased in the year 2008, remains in its original condition. The vehicle was used for excursions in the countryside, and was meant to be pulled by one or two horses, for four occupants. It has a wooden carriage resting on top of axles, with ribwork and battens, with two analogous seats arranged one behind the other, suspended on leather bands. The seats are upholstered with olive leather, with back rests of wrought rods – the rear one with a carriage-style rest, and the front one with side rests (in that case, the seat is but a simple one), with wrought sleeves to fix an additional, mobile back rest (whereby it would become the seat for the driving owner). On the sides of the front seat are lantern grips. The front cover is simple, wooden, with two ear-like grips. Above the rear wheels there are flat, wooden fans. The wooden parts of the upper body are varnished in yellow with black bands, the metal parta are painted black. The body is black with gentle yellow bands (front cover with a graphic decoration), the filler battens of the carriage patterned. Metal parts painted black. Aldona Cholewianka-Kruszyńska