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A small village in Poland has fewer than 1,000 people, but it’s received international press as one of the most beautiful villages in Europe. That’s because the residents of Zalipie—located northeast of Krakow—have been painting their houses, churches, schools, and even their trees with bouquets of brightly colored flowers.
According to Travel + Leisure, the paintings first started in the 1800s when women in the village painted floral displays to cover up the soot caused by smoky stoves. The tradition continued and nearly every bare surface in the village has been decorated with colorful, intricate floral patterns. The practice has earned Zalipie the nickname of “The Painted Village.”
The soot-covered walls may be gone, but Zalipie now has both a museum—the farm of Felicja Curylowa—and an annual festival called the Feast of the Corpus Christi to celebrate the flower paintings.
The best part? Thanks to the digital age you don’t have to make the trek to southern Poland to appreciate the art: although relatively few tourists have been to Zalipie, in-the-know travelers have posted hundreds of stunning photos on Instagram. We’ve rounded up the best of the best, below.