Monthly Archives: December 2020

The garden is located on the right side of the church, at the back of the basilica. The 4 m high Gate of the Ten Commandments is situated at the entrance. The garden, which covers over a hectare, has been decorated with great panache. Among the original and often unique vegetation there are over 20 biblical scenes, models of cities from the time of Christ, the Grotto of Birth in Bethlehem and the Mount of Ascension. From the observation tower, you can see the entire area and the surroundings of Stara Wieś.

The garden invites you to take a leisurely stroll, it is conducive to calmness and reflection. It is worth coming here and by the way visit the Baroque Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Stara Wieś towering over the area.

Sanok

Royal Castle

From Brzozów it takes less than half an hour to reach Sanok, where a Gothic castle was built during the reign of King Casimir the Great. In the years 1523-1548, at the behest of Bona Sforza, it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style. In the place of the remains of the medieval tower, the castle gained an observation deck, from which there is a lovely panorama of the surrounding area and the San flowing underneath the castle. Now, this building is the seat of the Historical Museum of Sanok.

Zdzisław Beksiński Gallery

This world-class artist was born in Sanok, worked in the local bus factory AUTOSAN (its co-founder was Mateusz Beksiński, Zdzisław’s great-grandfather), and had lived here until he moved to Warsaw. You will see the largest collection of Beksiński’s works in the world in a specially rebuilt wing of the castle. There are several thousand works here, including photographs, drawings, graphics, and films. Being there you can take a fascinating journey into the dark areas of the painter’s imagination.

Collection of icons

When visiting the Royal Castle in Sanok, pay attention to the permanent exhibition devoted to Eastern Orthodox art. The collection consists of about 700 unique icons, church crosses, banners, and books. Icons were treated as a link between the earthly and heavenly worlds. They survived the destroyed churches. They depict saints, episodes from their lives, and biblical scenes. Unreal figures float in the air. You will appreciate the elaboration of details and symbolism of these works.

Open-air museum

Museum of Folk Architecture in Sanok is picturesquely situated at the foot of Biała Góra. It’s a time machine. You will go back several centuries and discover the cultural richness of the region and its complex history. Around the Galician Market Square, there are houses and workshops of former craftsmen. If you are lucky, you will talk to the watchmaker and see how he cares about the mechanisms of the old clocks. The smell of baked bread will lure you to the bakery. The open-air museum has sectors that resemble settlements inhabited by various ethnographic groups of the foothills and the eastern part of the Polish Carpathians.

The hill fort in Trepcza

Brzozów is a 25-minute drive away from Trepcza. There, after crossing the Sanok valley narrowed at this point, you can see traces of a stronghold on the hill. It is one of the most famous archaeological discoveries from the beginning of the 21st century. There were found remains of a wooden, early medieval church surrounded by a cemetery. It is also a huge defensive structure situated 150 m above the river’s surface, protected by an earth embankment with a box structure.

Krosno

Glass from a loom

Do you want to learn the art of creating glass? Drive to the Glass Heritage Center in Krosno (it’s about 23 km from Brzozów). This place presents the process of creating glass in a modern way. It is actually a small workshop, producing its own products in the basement hidden under the historic Old Town. Here you will not only be able to touch the exhibits, but also make something yourself. The Glass Heritage Center hosts meetings of people of culture, conferences, wine tasting sessions and the famous “At the stove” concerts. The attraction is a unique painting in 3D technique showing the work of steelworkers. It is also a multimedia museum where you will enjoy the tradition and history of this industry in a pleasant way.

Tenement house of Portius

When visiting Krosno, go to the Bureau of Art Exhibitions, where you can interact with contemporary and folk art. The facility is located in a tastefully designed tenement house at ul. Portiusa 4. In addition to seeing the exhibitions that change frequently here, you can take part in art workshops organized for different age groups. They are led by excellent instructors in concept art, comics, storyboard, photography, film, animation, art, and art with elements of sensory art.

Franciscan Church

It is the oldest active temple in the Podkarpackie Province. The beginnings of the church date back to the fourteenth century and are related to the arrival of Franciscans to Krosno, who were brought here by the Przemyśl bishop, Eryk of Winsen. The three-nave temple and the adjacent monastery buildings gained their current form in the 15th century. The church has survived almost unchanged to our times. And although it has been touched by numerous cataclysms (including fires), it still hides treasures inside. They include outstanding works of Renaissance tombstone sculpture, thanks to which this church is mentioned in world studies on the art of the Renaissance. The place is also connected with the heart-touching love story between siblings.

Bird’s eye view

Would you like to fly and see Krosno from a bird’s eye view? The city has its own small airport, built in the 1930s. The Aero Club of the Subcarpathian Aviation School operates here, running such sections as: airplane, glider, parachute, modeling and amateur constructors. It is one of the largest aviation clubs in Poland. Over 300 people fly or parachute in Krosno. During the year, they perform almost 1,500 parachute jumps and approx. flights. You too can learn to fly!

Czarnorzeki

The town is situated on road 991 leading from Krosno to Rzeszów. In winter you can ski here. The floodlit slope in Czarnorzeki – 460 m long, with a level difference of 73 m – is typically recreational. There is a 400 m long T-bar lift. At any time of the year, you can see the small Prządki Rock Reserve, which is located within the Czarnorzecko-Strzyżowski Landscape Park. It includes a group of rock outliers with the surrounding forest. You will see unusual rocks made of coarse-grained sandstone. Hence, it is very close to the picturesque ruins of the castle. This Gothic structure was erected on a rock at an altitude of 452 meters above sea level. This is where the story told in Aleksander Fredro’s comedy “Zemsta” is happening. From here it is close to Sucha Góra – the highest hill of the Dynów Foothills (approx. 585 m above sea level), with a TV tower (141 m high).

Bieszczady Mountains

Solina

In less than an hour, you can reach Solińskie Lake. It was built in the 1960s as a result of the construction of a dam on the San river. The dam in Solina is almost 82 m high and is the highest such a structure in Poland. A walk at its peak is a great opportunity to admire the San valley on the one hand, and a huge lake on the other, with many recreational and leisure centers. In Polańczyk, it is worth visiting the Boyko Culture Museum devoted to highlanders living in the Eastern Carpathians. In winter, ski lifts operate in Polańczyk.

Dam on the lake Solinskie in Solina, Bieszczady, Poland

Narrow-gauge ride

Do you want to watch the Bieszczady Mountains from a train car, feeling the wind in your hair? Take a ride on one of the most charming narrow-gauge tracks in Poland. The Bieszczady Forest Railway runs through the mountain valleys from Majdan near Cisna towards the meadows, to Przysłup and to the west along the Slovak border up to Balnica. Today it serves tourists, but over 100 years ago it was used to transport goods and raw materials, mainly wood.

Hiking in the mountains

It is worth venturing into the Bieszczady Mountains, especially the area of ​​the Bieszczady National Park and its buffer zone. Here the ridges of the mountains run parallel to each other from the southeast to the northwest. Their height increases towards the east, reaching 1,346 m above sea level. in the Tarnica massif. The trip to these mountains you will remember for a long time.

On horseback in the valleys

Horse tourism is developing in the Bieszczady National Park based on the Conservative Hucul Horse Breeding in Wołosat and the Horse Tourism Center in Tarnawa Niżna. In these centers, you can learn horse riding (there is an indoor riding arena in Wołosate). There are approx. 65 km of horse trails in the Park. Horse cart rides are a nice and non-exhaustive form of sightseeing. During the tourist season, the Bieszczady National Park provides tourists with their own horses and carriages. In addition, there are private studs here.

Komańcza

Returning from the Bieszczady Mountains to Brzozów, it is worth going to Komańcza, where the Monastery of the Sisters of Nazareth is located. The building itself is characterized by unusual architecture, but the place is known for the fact that Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński was imprisoned here in the 1950s by the communists. Apart from Mondays, the nuns show visitors around the monastery and tell the story of the stay of the “Primate of the Millennium”.

The Monastery of Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth in Komancza, Poland. From 1955 to 1956 in the monastery was interned Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski

The starting point for all routes is the car park at the edge of the forest located in the Brzozów Forest District. It was here in the 1920s and 1930s that Brzozów-Zdrój, a spa facility operating on the basis of discovered healing springs, was located. Unfortunately, it did not survive the war and post-war damage. The resort is commemorated by the “Brzozów-Zdrój” nature trail.

Near the car park, you will find a shelter with a fireplace and a lot of benches to rest or prepare for the road. Next to it, there are two boards – one with Nordic walking routes and the other with a set of exercises that you should do before you start hiking with poles.

In the forest, right next to the parking lot, there is an educational and nature trail. On the other side, there is a chapel-votum built in the place where the Theological Seminary was moved from Przemyśl to Brzozów. In Przemyśl, under Soviet and German occupation from 1939, there were no conditions for the relatively normal functioning of the seminary. The forest seminary was opened on May 10, 1940. Altogether almost 100 priests were ordained here.

Yellow route – educational. Length 4.8 km, walking time approx. 50 minutes.

It leads through Stara Wieś village to the historic center of Brzozów. On the way, it is worth stopping and visiting the Collegiate Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Regional Museum in the Town Hall on the market square in Brzozów.

The green route – easy. Length 5.3 km, walking time approx. 1 hour.

It leads through beautiful forest areas near Brzozów. At the very beginning, you come across the first stop of the educational trail, devoted to the habitat types of forests. Nature and educational trail “Brzozów-Zdrój” has 15 stops with information boards.

Red route – medium. Length 12.2 km, walking time approx. 2 hours.

After warming up, you set off according to the described course of the green route to the fourth stop of the nature path, further which the green signs and the path turn right, and the red and black trails remain on the main road. The route continues past the Jesuit retreat center. It is a villa from the 1880s, erected in the Swiss – a place of relaxation and concentration. Next to the villa, there is a stylish chapel from the beginning of the 20th century. Then the trail goes through a beautiful beech forest, considered one of the most charming forest sections in the vicinity of Brzozów.

Black route – difficult. Length 17.6 km, walking time approx. 3 hours.

The beginning of the route runs along a forest road, then you enter the village of Zmiennica, the first historical records of which come from the 15th century. You pass a 19th-century wooden church. Inside the temple, there is the oldest tombstone in the region from 1539. Behind the church, you pass a neo-gothic, historic yard granary from the beginning of the 19th century. In the final part, you return to the forested areas.

Uncover the charming landscape of Bieszczady

The Green Velo Eastern Cycle Trail makes it easier for lovers of touring on two wheels to organize active recreation. Starting and ending the bicycle loop in Brzozów (approx. 31.5 km), you will get to know the charm of the Dynów hills and the challenges it presents to you.

Unique sights and hidden gems

The first stop along the Green Velo Cycle Trail is in the nearby village Stara Wieś. Visit the fantastic late-baroque Basilica Minor – Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the nearby bibel garden. Behind the buildings of the Jesuit Fathers College, the route turns left towards Orzechówka. After the bridge over Stobnica you turn right through the picturesque valley of the Stobnicato in order to reach Blizne. Here you will be delighted by the wooden church of All Saints, inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List. Inside the church you can admire beautiful wall paintings from the 16th-18th centuries.

Cycle through the scenic Dynów hills

Driving to Jasienica Rosielna, you approach the Czarnorzecko-Strzyżowski Landscape Park. The route continues through Wola Jasienicka and turns to Wola Komborska. A few kilometers from Wola Komborska, it is worth stopping at one of the most beautiful viewpoints in the Podkarpackie region. Heading towards Orzechówka, we reach Brzozów.

The palace is situated in Grabownica Starzeńska village on the road connecting Brzozów with Sanok. The eclectic, two-storey building on a rectangular plan has a portico in the central part supported by four columns supporting a large balcony.

The palace was built at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries by the Starzeński family. The times of greatest glory fall on the beginning of the 19th century, when Franciszek Ksawery Mikołaj Starzeński resided there. He was a well-known ichthyologist who kept rare species of fish in aquariums and collected books on fish. Later owners, the Ostaszewskis, developed an English thoroughbred breeding farm here. In 1894, the property was taken over by Piotr Tyszkowski. He died childless in 1920 and from that time until the establishment of the state-owned farm in 1949, the palace was looked after by the administrator.

Today, the building is privately owned and closed to visitors.

In the summer months, this place is the most vibrant in Brzozów. Take advantage of the large swimming pool with a 60 m long gutter slide and other attractions. A three-level paddling pool with a depth of 0.15 – 0.3 m is waiting for younger children.

Around the pools, there is a well-kept meadow where you can put a blanket or a sunbed. There is also a playground, two tennis courts and a beach volleyball court in the fenced area.

The most significant monument in Brzozów is the Collegiate Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. The history of this church dates back to the 17th century when it was built. In 2017, Pope Francis elevated the collegiate church to the dignity of minor basilica.

The essence of the baroque

After entering the temple, your attention is drawn to the baroque chancel with the main altar in red and gold colors. Three pairs of columns are positioned in a row to direct the gaze to the center of the altar, in which there is a painting from the 17th century with a scene of the Crucifixion. 107 relics of saints are collected in the reliquaries in the main altar.

The main nave is decorated with a frescoed barrel vault, enriched with lunettes. Noteworthy is the pulpit from the 17th century, with the statues of evangelists and other saints, floral motifs and a sculpture of a pelican feeding the young.

Organs

On the side opposite to the altar, above the entrance, there is an organ front. The oldest information about the organ (14-voice) comes from 1699. The organ currently used, from the second half of the 20th century, has 40 voices.

Our Lady of Fire

In the aisles there are, among others The altar of Our Lady of the Rosary with a painting famous for its graces, the Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Chapel of St. Anna with the altar of St. Anna and the historic baptismal font.

The chapel of Our Lady of Fire is unique, where in fact there is a picture of Our Lady of Consolation, known as Our Lady of Fire, in memory of its miraculous rescue from the fire in 1657. The picture was crowned in 1858.

While in Brzozów it is worth visiting the museum located in the Town Hall of Brzozów. The facility is named after historian Adam Fastnacht. You can see exhibits in the field of archeology, ethnography, history, the art of the region, folk culture, and old everyday objects. You will see exhibitions valuable for the city and the region at specially organized temporary presentations. On the other hand, the permanent exposition, entitled “From the history and culture of the Brzozów region”, presenting the reconstruction of the bourgeois salon and peasant chamber, sculptures and paintings by regional artists, and the history of the region through craftsmanship.

The oldest and most interesting exhibits of the Brzozów museum are flint and stone hatchets and hatchets from the Neolithic period (4.5-1.7 thousand years BC) found in the vicinity of Brzozów and the craftsmanship of which Brzozów was famous – pipes from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and the combing workshop of Jan Fal – the last master in this trade in Brzozów.

Visit the vibrant Market Square with the characteristic Town Hall

Dating from the end of the 19th century the Town Hall is the most characteristic and famous building in Brzozów. It looks great on the renovated market square, surrounded by tenement houses. In 1925, a clock made in the First National Factory of Tower Clocks by Michał Mięsowicz in Krosno was installed on the tower. In the following years, it was rebuilt several times, which changed its original appearance. In the 1940s, the helmet was removed from the tower and two wooden storeys were added, thus obtaining an observation deck. In the 1960s, the wooden structure was replaced with the current brick one. In the years 2010-2011, the town hall underwent a major renovation of the interior and the facade.

Inside the Town Hall there is the Regional Museum and the Registry Office.

The building of red brick was erected in the years 1909-1910 according to the design of the famous architect Jan Sas-Zubrzycki, professor of the Lviv Technical University and a member of the Polish Academy of Learning. The construction was carried out by an architect from Przemyśl, Stanisław Kostka Majerski. The building was made on an L-shaped plan. A tower was incorporated into the corner. Pay attention to the façade on which the busts of Kazimierz the Great, Queen Jadwiga, Władysław Jagiełło, and Tadeusz Kościuszko as well as the coat of arms of Brzozów and Galicja were made by Stanisław Majerski.

There was a nest of the Gymnastic Society “Sokół” in Brzozów. “Sokół” was a pioneering organization promoting physical education, sport, and a healthy lifestyle. It was banned after World War II by the communist authorities.

Since 1956, the historic building houses the Brzozowski Cultural Center, a cultural institution of the Brzozów Municipality.

Contact

The Cultural Center in Brzozów Armii Krajowej 3 36-200 Brzozów Phone: + 48 13 434 19 38 Email: dkbrzozow@gmail.com www.bdk.net.pl