Small Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, villas and manors, wooden architecture in small towns, altogether consist of 253 objects and 1500 km of marked roads in Małopolska. Part of these gems on the Wooden Architecture Route can be seen with a guide in the holiday season. Within the "Music enchanted in wood" cycle, every Sunday of the summer, you can listen to old music, as well as jazz, opera, ethnic music and gospel. The beauty of old polychrome and Medieval sculptures enchanted in wood, the smell of resin soaring from old wooden planks and rays of light trickling through the window enhance the sensation of listening to the music. the Wooden Architecture Route in Małopolska has received the most significant tourism trophy - the Gold Certificate of Polish Tourist Organisation for the best tourist product in Poland in 2013. Six out of eight wooden churches entered on the UNESCO's World Heritage List are located in that very subregion. The UNESCO trail is accompanied by the First World War Eastern Front Route, featuring cemeteries designed by outstanding artists, and commemorations of anniversaries of the great battle of Gorlice in Sękowa in May.
On a hill above the village, surrounded by a cemetery and old trees, there is the tiny ancient Dormition of the Theotokos Orthodox Church, today the parish church. Its three...
Over green pastures, on the background of ancient trees, at some distance from few houses of Bartne, there is a true gem of wooden architecture – former St. St. Cosmas and...
The St. St. Cosmas and Damian Orthodox Church in Bartne is almost 100 years younger than the other local temple. It was founded as late as in 1930, which does not diminish its...
Today, Lemko chyże , i.e. traditional wooden huts, enchant many tourists with their shape, as if designed with a view to a gentle landscape of the Low Beskids. Few of them...
In the heart of the valley surrounded by forests and mountains, with the small village of Bielanka, where many Lemkos live until today, the beautiful Intercession of the...
Although Bodaki is a small village lost among the mountains and forests and having as little as several farms, there are two Orthodox churches here and both are under the same...
The St. Demetrius Orthodox Church in Bodaki is smaller than the other temple in the village. Actually, it is a larger chapel, built in 1932 or 1934, at the edge of the fields...
The former St. Demetrius Orthodox Church in Bogusza of 1858 is not the smallest one. The wide nave and smaller chancel with the tin roofs are crowned with the small turrets...
As large as an old Lemko chyża , the Nativity of St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church is almost completely shielded by a line of spruces. It is a very modest temple: tin...
When we are approaching the Ascension of Jesus Greek Catholic Orthodox along a lime alley from the parking lot, among the lines of trees we can only see its vestibule. Nothing...
The old parish house in Grybów looks like an idyllic, Old-Polish manor: white-washed walls, green shutters and a tiny entrance porch with two bulky stanchions. This small,...
Although few houses are left in the once large village of Hańczowa, fortunately the beautiful wooden Intercession of the Theotokos Orthodox Church, built here in the 1 st...
The silhouette of the St. Basil Orthodox Church in Konieczna can be perfectly visible from the nearby convenient highway leading to the border with Slovakia. Built in 1903, it...
In Królowa Górna, the Nativity of the Theotokos Orthodox Church, shielded by trees, has crouched modestly just behind a large, new church which is well visible from afar....
Behind a stone wall, in the shade of centuries-old limes, there is a wooden temple in Krużlowa. Not everyone will immediately notice its age in its simple silhouette while the...
The former St. St. Cosmas and Damian Orthodox Church in Krzywa is one of those temples, which does not resemble the image of a classic Lemko Orthodox church from the Low...
In Kunkowa, a miniature village hidden in the side valley behind the Pieninki Gorlickie Mountains, the charming St. Luke Orthodox Church of 1868 has survived until today. The...
Bulbous, shingled domes on the fabulous, hip roofs, higher and higher towards the sky, crowned with decorative wrought iron crosses, tripartite silhouette with a tiny chancel,...
The wooden St. Luke Orthodox Church in Leszczyny looks most beautifull when we look at it from the road from Bielanka:then, its silhouette with a high steeple and three...
The Nativity of the Theotokos Church in Libusza is almost contemporary to the much more famous temple in nearby Sękowa. Just like it, it is wooden and was built in 1513....
It is best to approach the Nativity of the Theotokos Orthodox Church in Łosie from the side of Maziarska Farm. Then, we enter the area around the temple through a lovely brick...
A wooden temple in Męcina Wielka may be a real mystery for many visitors: is it a church or an Orthodox church?Actually, both answers are correct, because it was built in 1807...
According to the Lemko tradition, the St. St. Cosmas and Damian Orthodox Church in Milik has been built on a small hill right above the village, and limes were planted...
On a ridge, opposite the towering Mount Jodłowa, right next to a magnificent new church, in Mogilno there is the small wooden St. Martin Church. The modest building without a...
In the middle of the parish cemetery in Moszczenica, there is an unusual rotunda. The original, hexagonal shape of the Chapel of Christ in the Sepulchre in the cemetery is...
Before asphalt and cars started being ubiquitous, the faithful travelled to a parish church on foot, often from far away. Sometimes, to be on time on the Sunday morning mass,...
A hundred years ago, almost every town in Galicia was similar to each other. In the streets and on the market, there were mostly single-storeyed, often wooden houses with...
The open-air museum in Nowy Sącz, i.e. the Sądecki Ethnographic Park, provides visitors with a unique opportunity to see wooden huts next to other examples of folk wooden...
If we want to reach the Intercession of the Theotokos Orthodox Church in Owczary, we have to drive along a winding side road to the very end of the long Beskid valley but our...
When we deviate from the main road leading from Gorlice to the Małastowska Pass, to a small village of Pętna, we will be surprised. Although it is the small Lemko village,...
Armoured knights, dressy ladies-in-waiting, praying clergymen and simple peasants – the entire gallery of Renaissance human types goes around the walls of the wooden...
In order to reach the wooden St. Andrew Church, at first, we have to walk across a small bridge over the stream and then go under a stone arch of a small gate. The unique...
The Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Przydonica surprises us with towering tiers of a small turret. The miniature roofs with eaves, annexed church porch, small windows and...
In Ptaszkowa, at the foot a high range of Jaworze, the wooden Holy Name of Mary Church was built in 1555. This is an impressive building which differs from other wooden...
The St. Michael Church in Ropa dated back to 1761, is a temple which surprises us with its unusual structure: when standing in front of a stone wall surrounding the church...
Tourists travelling fast along the road via Ropica Górna, just at the road may notice slender, small turrets crowned with decorative crosses. It is worth, however, stopping...
The impressive wooden St. Andrew Church in Rożnowice is maybe not so well-known and valuable as the temple in nearby Binarowa, but after all it is characterised by its...
The St. St. Philip and Jacob Church from 1520, standing amidst old limes, looks like a big shingled tent – with the parts of a steep roof descending almost to the ground and...
The shingled walls and roofs of the St. St. Cosmas and Damian Orthodox Church in Skwirtne are crowned with, just as it should be in case of a classic Lemko Orthodox church,...
Are there any houses in the world which are sweeter than beehives?In the Beekeeping Museum in Stróże, we can see for ourselves that they are sweet not only thanks to bees,...
The wooden, two-steepled façade of the St. Michael Church in Szalowa amazes with its shape, which is not typical of wooden temples. With its two steeples covered with...
It is not easy to find the former Nativity of the Theotokos Orthodox Church, hidden in a narrow valley, in the hamlet of Wólka. Located on a steep scarp above the stream...
Although numerous vehicles are constantly driving along the busy road just next to the wooden St. Adalbert Church, we do not experience it at all when standing in the shade of...
In a small open-air museum in Szymbark, there are wooden rural buildings transferred from the neighbouring villages. Apart from such places, it is not common to see in the...
In the busy centre of Uście Gorlickie, the stone gates covered with roofs with small, bulbous crowns lead to an enclave of silence and concentration. The area around the St....
Just behind a medieval church in Wielogłowy, we can see the unusual, hip roofs and a house with miniature annexes looking like small fortified towers. This is the manor coming...
The wooden, log (shingled walls) St. Michael Orthodox Church in Wierchomla Wielka, from 1821, is another example of a Greek Catholic temple which looks more like a rural...
In a beautiful place, on a hill above the Biała Valley, completely invisible from the road thanks to trees shielding it, there is the St. Stanislaus Church in Wilczyska, one...
The small Intercession of the Theotokos Orthodox Church from the 18 th century, located in Wołowiec, is one of these Lemko temples, which come to the minds of those who love...
Everyone, who enters the health resort in Wysowa-Zdrój, at the beginning of the village will see the large wooden Assumption of Mary Church. It was built with a view to the...
The fact that for a long time Wysowa-Zdrój has not been a health resort but a small Lemko village lost among the hills of the Low Beskids, is reminded by the wooden St....
In the village of Zdynia, once large and populous, few holdings have been left until today. Fortunately, the Intercession of the Theotokos Orthodox Church, standing below the...
The war cemetery No 55, today hidden in a small grove among the fields, north of Gładyszów, was built in the open field, just like most other cemeteries established during WWI...
The towering hill called Mount Cmentarna (367 m above sea level), which on the north dominates the centre of Gorlice, in May 1915 was the area of heavy fights. After the...
At the small Wąska street, diverging from the Gorlice marketsquare, attention is drawn by a storeyed tenement house: from its façade, passers-by are looked at by the black and...
The Pustki Hill rising up over Łużna (446 m) towers over the neighbourhood, above the village and road leading to Gorlice. It is not difficult to guess why it was a crucial...
In the forest, on the steep slope of the Pustki Hill (446 m above sea level) over Łużna, in the shade of large beeches, stone monuments stand, around which tens of wooden...
When standing in the parking lot on the Małastowska Pass, we can see a wooden fence with a gate covered with a triangular roof. At the rear, on the axis of the gate, we will...
Founded next to the parish cemetery, the small war cemetery No 352 has been designed by Gustav Ludwig. 25 Austro-Hungarian, 5 Russian and 9 Polish Legions soldiers, fighting...
The lonely peak of Rotunda (771 m above sea level) is crowned with amazing wooden structures. These slender towers are a part of the war cemetery No 51, considered to be the...
The war cemetery No 80, founded high above the Sękówka Valley, surprises with its splendour. Even from afar, when climbing up a steep narrow path among the fields, we can see...
On a flat ridge of the Patria Hill (432 m above sea level), among the trees, we can see from afar four massive stone pylons. Two of them are crowned with blades of huge iron...
From the road running via Konieczna to the border with Slovakia, on a wooded ridge of the Beskids, we can see a forest clearing with a slender tower. This is a reconstructed...
When approaching the former St. St. Cosmas and Damian Orthodox Church in Banica (now the Catholic Church), among the trees we will see, first of all, bulbous domes covered with...
In no other Orthodox church, will we see so many extremely picturesque, bulbous domes as in the former St. St. Cosmas and Damian Orthodox Church in Berest!Not only all three parts...
The simplicity of the silhouette of the wooden late-Gothic St. Michael Church in Binarowa, built in 1500, contrasts with the extraordinary wealth of the interior décor. Almost...
Due to numerous reconstructions, the silhouette of the former St. Demetrius Orthodox Church from 1760, today the Catholic Church in Binczarowa, has lost its characteristic Western...
St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church in Brunary Wyżne, currently used as the Roman Catholic Church, is characterised by its impressive size. It was built in 1797 in place of...
The small, former St. Demetrius Greek Catholic Orthodox Church in Czarna (now the Catholic Church) is almost a textbook example of a Lemko temple. Built on a hill upon a stream...
When we are approaching the church in Czarny Potok, we can see from afar an enormous bulbous dome of a steeple. Later on, we can see the entire temple – definitely smaller than we...
When looked at from the road, the former St. Paraskeva Orthodox Church in Czyrna seems to be very impressive. This is, however, misleading as it has been placed on a terrace...
Placed on a hill above the road, the former St. Luke Orthodox Church in Jastrzębik even from afar reveals that it has been substantially reconstructed. A slender steeple over the...
An unusual structure of the church standing in the centre of Kamianna reveals its history – its appearance, modelled on Old Russian Orthodox churches, is totally different from...
The large, wooden St. Adalbert Church in Kąclowa makes an impression of an old building with a long history. Similar, in terms of its architecture and design, to many authentic...
Hidden behind old trees, on a scarp upon a stream, the Intercession of the Theotokos Orthodox Church in Krynica-Słotwiny is an example of a late Orthodox church of Western-Lemko...
The small, wooden Transfiguration of Jesus and Our Lady of Częstochowa Church, hidden among the trees just above the spa promenade attracts attentions of few health visitors...
At Bulwary Dietla, along the bed of Kryniczanka, there are several beautiful wooden spa villas. The first one from the southern side, located just below a steep slope of the...
In the depth of the Słotwiński Park, we may notice a small, wooden rotunda with big windows, standing right at a steep mountain slope. Few people know that it is the oldest...
From the busy and noisy road running via Leluchów, among tens of big and small shops, a steep path leads to the former St. Demetrius Orthodox Church. The temple, today used as the...
The impressive St. Michael Orthodox Church in Łosie (now a Catholic church) is a typical Western Lemko temple. Hip roofs, covered with tin, over a nave and chancel and a high...
The Intercession of the Theotokos Orthodox Church in Maciejowa, today used by the Catholics, is located a bit out of the way, among numerous trees at the edge of a cemetery. It is...
Thanks to the typical Western Lemko architecture, we will immediately recognise the former St. Michael Orthodox Church in the Our Lady of Częstochowa Parish Church in Mochnaczka...
St. Demetrius Orthodox Church in Złockie (now the Roman Catholic parish church) is characterised by its extremely picturesque location on an exposed ridge between the valleys of...
Kościelna street stretches from the triangular marketsquare in Muszyna to the Baroque church towering over the buildings of the townlet. It is worth taking a walk along this...
St. John Orthodox Church in Muszynka, built in the 18 th century, is now the Roman Catholic church. However, it is not difficult to notice typical features of sacral Western...
Inside the former wooden St. St. Cosmas and Damian Orthodox Church (today the Catholic church), in the lower part of an iconostasis, we may see an interesting painting, which...
But for bulbous, small domes over a nave and chancel, the former St. Michael Orthodox Church in Polany would look like a regular Catholic church. Surrounded by a stone wall, the...
Hidden in the shade of big trees, the tiny St. Jacob Orthodox Church in Powroźnik (now the Catholic church) is a true gem among the wooden Orthodox churches in the Beskids. It is...
Standing on a green slope above the village buildings, the St. Demetrius Orthodox Church in Roztoka Wielka, built in 1819, today the Roman Catholic Church, looks extremely...
The wooden church in Szczawnik is the former St. Demetrius Orthodox Church from 1841. Its structure is typical of the late Western Lemko Orthodox churches. It has a significantly...
The small St. Demetrius Orthodox Church in Śnietnica is located on a hill surrounded by a stone wall, next to the new Catholic church – in the years 1947-97, it was used as a...
The former St. St. Cosmas and Damian Orthodox Church in Tylicz, located in a cemetery, is currently the Roman Catholic church. The temple, built in 1743, as a tripartite building,...
In the upper part of the extensive marketsquare in Tylicz, from behind the old trees and a stone belfry, the small wooden St. Peter and Paul Church looms up. It was founded in...
The compact structure of the former St. St. Cosmas and Damian Orthodox Church in Wojkowa, now the Catholic Church, is shielded by high trees. It was built in 1790. At a close...
The place, where a busy road from Brzesk to Nowy Sącz crosses the ridge of Jodłowiec, is called the St. Just Pass. Centuries ago, the pass was a wilderness overgrown with forests....
On the open ridge of hills, high above the waters of the Rożnowskie Lake, we can find the wooden St. Nicholas Church. This wooden building of carcass construction hidden under...
THE LACH OF SĄCZ ETHNIC GROUP MUSEUM NAMED AFTER ZOFIA AND STANISŁAW CHRZĄSTOWSKI was created from the private ethnographic collection of its founders, experts on the region and...