Polish Village Fully Covered In Colorful Flower Paintings

There is a village called Zalipie in the southeast of Poland which looks like a fairy tale brought to real life. It's thanks to the colorful paintings of flowers which seem to be literally everywhere you look. It all started in the 19th-century with the implementation of chimneys into houses. Before that, the smoke was supposed to come out through a hole in the ceiling, but instead was coming into the rooms, covering the walls with soot, so those often had to be whitened with lime. Chimneys helped white surfaces to remain white, so people decided to use those white walls as a canvas for flower paintings. And at some point, this flower painting spiraled out of control and engulfed the whole village, which even had the Painted Cottage Competition (Malowana Chata in Polish). Now the painting is done and the whole village stands as an inhabited gallery, which celebrates color and nature's beauty daily. (h/t: mentalfloss, boredpanda)

#1

Image source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Poland

#2

Image source: House of Painters in Zalipie

#3

Image source: adamtkincaid

#4

Image source: polandtravel_jp

#5

Image source: Stuart Spicer

#6

Image source: Przemek Czaja

#7

Image source: Marcin Kelm

#8

Image source: yuka_7160

#9

Image source: ilvic

#10

Image source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs