Centrum Edukacji i Promocji Regionu w Szymbarku

The Centre for Education and Regional Promotion in Szymbark opened on 6 September 2003. One of its main creators and initiators was Daniel Czapiewski, a Kashubian entrepreneur and owner of the DANMAR company. The centre was established in Szymbark, near Wieżyca - the highest elevation in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Today, the complex is operated by Lidia Czapiewska. Its grounds contain numerous original, relocated and reconstructed structures connected with the history of Kashubia, Polish emigration, the Second World War, traditional crafts and local record-breaking achievements.

The World's Longest Plank measures 46.53 metres and comes from the 2012 record attempt. The Stolëmòwi Klawér piano is over six metres long and weighs around 1.8 tonnes. Its six legs bear portraits of Polish composers, including Fryderyk Chopin and Stanisław Moniuszko. The Upside-Down House reverses a building's normal layout: the roof is on the ground, and visitors walk on the ceiling through its furnished interior.

A separate part of the complex is devoted to 20th-century history. The Siberian Exile House was dismantled and transported to Szymbark from near Irkutsk, while beside it stands a model of a Soviet labour camp built according to a plan prepared by a group of former deportees known as the Borowiczanie. A reconstruction of a bunker used by the “Gryf Pomorski” Secret Military Organisation can accommodate more than 60 people and uses sound effects to recreate the atmosphere of an air raid. The small Church of St Raphael Kalinowski, consecrated on 17 September 2004, contains commemorative stones from several places connected with Polish history, including a stone from the first archcathedral on Wawel Hill and stones from the foundations of the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

The collection of historic tools includes carpentry, wheelwrighting, agricultural, carting, medical and household implements dating from the 18th century to the Second World War. One of the most interesting exhibits is an approximately 200-year-old copying lathe, used among other things to produce spokes for wagon wheels.

For younger visitors, the Centre created the Kashubian World of Fairy Tales, opened on 20 July 2013. In this multimedia space, children can listen to classic fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella, read by well-known Polish actors.