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The territorial scope of the catalogue

The territorial range of the catalogue includes the regions of the Żuławy Gdańskie, Wielkie Żuławy Malborskie, Małe Żuławy Malborskie, and Żuławy Elbląskie.
This precursory publication was based on a survey of archival materials from the Regionalny Ośrodek Badań i Dokumentacji Zabytków (Regional Center for Documenting and Researching Historical Monuments) in Gdańsk and the Wojewódzki Urząd Ochrony Zabytków Delegatura w Elblągu (Voivodeshiop Office of Historical Site Protection, Elbląg Branch). The purpose of the survey was to identify historical sites and buildings located in the Żuławy region that are associated with the Dutch colonization. The survey was accompanied by a field research, which included all settlements described in the catalogue.
Based on these two projects, it became evident that the available documentation of sites located in the area included in the Dutch colonization between the 16th and 19th centuries is far from complete and with an exception of several villages is limited to single objects. The selection of documented historical buildings (record card) is basically limited to arcaded houses or residential buildings; farm buildings were rarely investigated. Also, historical monument record card that described Dutch homesteads rarely included information about its farm section. Another drawback of the existing documentation is their oversimplified form. The record cards rarely included a reliable outline of a building layout, sufficient number of photographs, or the history of a building with owners' names; often, the provided dates were inaccurate. Later fate of a building was rarely provided (often, 25 years have passed since such documentation was prepared) and in many cases, we discovered that a building or its part no longer existed. Often, change of addresses within a village prevented us from identifying some buildings (when their structures were similar). The data from record cards were verified during the field survey.
We discovered that in many villages, not even a single historical building was documented; furthermore, several Mennonite cemeteries have not been mentioned in the documentation.
Considering the modest content of record cards, this catalogue was based on the author's own descriptions and photographs taken during field trips. The author also used his own collection of photographs, which were taken incidentally during the past dozen or so years.
In spite of the rapid deterioration of historical buildings, their numbers in Żuławy are still considerable. Documenting each example would require concentrated efforts of numerous activists and institutions created with this purpose; the limited scope of this catalogue prevented such a detailed analysis.
Villages of the Żuławy Wiślane region, and particularly the Żuławy Malborskie and Żuławy Elbląskie were inhabited by coexisting populations of Lutherans, Catholics, and Mennonites, who lived in similar homesteads. Currently it is impossible to identify the religious orientation or nationality of pre-war owners of homesteads or houses. Therefore, the catalogue includes only buildings that were most typical of a village (sometimes, those were the only historical buildings in a settlement), had a Dutch homestead layout, or their pre-war owner had a Mennonite surname. Obviously, this does not mean that this was his or her religious orientation. As an example, the catalogue also includes buildings without any evidence regarding their direct relation to the Dutch colonization. Those were either the only wooden buildings in a settlement with a Dutch colonization record or buildings whose features were similar to the structures of Dutch buildings present in a different settlement.

The survey of the literature related to the rural architecture of the region confirmed that currently available publications only include descriptions of arcaded houses and other buildings, whose relationship to the Mennonite colonization is uncertain.