In Pomerania in the 18th and 19th centuries a prevailing element of rural landscape was half-timbered development. Many farms and houses with half-timbered constructions have remained in the Slupsk area. In rooms of wooden construction with truss framework poles wrapped around with straw wisps were installed. Fields between beams of the structure were filled in with clay or brick whitewashed so that a whole formed a specific pattern – a black & white check. Although the Checked Land goes from Darlowo up to Leba, this is Swolowo that was announced “the Capital of the Checked Land” as all the buildings of settlement development of the village have construction formed by beams, posts and timbers painted black with pitch.

In the 17th century, residents of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland during their travel across Royal Prussia and Ducal Prussia discovered a way of constructing walls unknown for them so far and misnamed it “a Prussian wall”. This name was often incorrectly associated with the Prussian state, which made common use of its own economical development techniques in order to protect forest areas. In the architecture of Swolowo, several types of materials were used over centuries. Boulders were used for laying foundation, biggest of which were put under buildings’ corners. Until the 18th century, wooden framework of a construction was made from oak beams; later, after 1820 (the abolition of serfdom), they were replaced by pine wood. Hand-made brick was used for forming chimneys. Clay collected from fields was used for forming walls, reed collected from ponds and lakes was used for covering roofs and from 1873 ceramic tiles were baked.

Despite the fact that most of 139 buildings in Swolowo came from the 19th century, each one is different from others in some substantial details. The most impressive thing is a row of farms in the south-east side of the oval village, where houses have up to 4 floors (two of which form a roof). Every farm is about 55 metres in width and up to 120 metres in depth. Buildings are arranged around a spacious, rectangular 20 x 40 metres’ yard. Buildings surrounding the yard, placed one by one, form altogether a uniform quadrangular structure, although they have separate, independent constructions.

Typical for Pomeranian development, gate buildings are situated parallel to the road. 15 such houses have remained in Swolowo. Farms can be accessed through passage gates and pathways with wickets. Such arrangement causes that particular farms are closed from outside and a yard is a very centre of an entire farm. This is a place where all internal communication takes place and entrances to utility rooms, barns, pigsties and other inventory structures are present. The yard closes with a house, behind which a vegetable garden and an orchard are located. In front of the house’s windows, from the garden’s side, small flower gardens were often present. Close to houses we can find wells reinforced with stones and wooden piles.

A financial situation of particular farmers was displayed by the size of a farm and the number of buildings therein. The largest farms, up to 100 hectares, had up to 10 buildings of different purposes and functions. They had multi-floor construction inhabited by families over many generations together with their servants. In one of such farms (no. 8, belonging to Albrechts’ family in the 18th and 19th centuries), the Middle Pomerania Museum attempts to restore an old look and aims to adopt it so that it can function as an animation centre of the regional culture. Swolowo farms reflected the fact the rural society was split into aforementioned large farms and smaller ones belonging to minor farmers and buildings of the poor. Large, multi-floor houses were called “houses of wheat fields” in the 19th century as were present in villages located around fertile plains and showed welfare of farmers.

Next to Swolowo buildings, until 50s of the 20th century, there were two wooden windmills which unfortunately were taken apart. Two forges, school buildings and a dairy are what recalls the old times. New residents, who settled the farms after 1945, managed to show respect to the local material culture, and their care about the buildings and integrity of the village’s style that has been kept prove their respect for the past. The Timbered Land encompasses northern fragments of the Slawno and Slupsk districts (1.600 square kilometres), where almost 1.500 half-timbered constructions succeeded to survive. This is a travel to the land where time has stopped.