The Municipal Public Library in Gorlice has fulfilled the “Polska Cyfrowa Równych Szans” project, whose goal was to introduce digital communication among adult Poles aged 50 and above. Recently the library has also partaken in a project to build an integrated system for information and collection management for public libraries in Lesser Poland, co-funded by the EU as part of Lesser Poland’s Regional Operational Program for 2007-2013.

The Municipal Public Library in Gorlice is taking part in the “Biblioteka Miejscem Spotkań Wielu Kultur” project, which aims to develop a library model that integrates a diverse community, and to equip librarians with the knowledge required for multicultural endeavours undertaken with minority representatives. Current projects include: “Bitwa Gorlicka 2.0,” “Tablety w Twojej Bibliotece,” “Zakup nowości wydawniczych do bibliotek.” Apart from cultural undertakings, the Municipal Public Library in Gorlice is also involved in the following projects: a DKK youth club, the “Nad Lipą” readers’ club, Klub Małego Czytelnika (little readers’ club), “All of Poland Reads to Kids,” “Odjazdowy Bibliotekarz.”

sources:
www.mbpgorlice.info

sources:
www.gck.gorlice.pl

Szymbark is a town of rich history. From the middle of the 14th century Szymbark served as the defensive residence of house Gładysz, Gryf coat of arms, around which a burgh developed, and later on a city. In the 16th century a fortified manor was erected in Szymbark and has remained until modern times. During the first world war Szymbark was at the foreground of the battlefront, which is evidenced by military cemeteries that still exist today.

Szymbark’s most valuable monument is the castle situated on the bank of the Ropa river – the house Gładysz fortified manor: a Renaissance-style building that was originally constructed as late-Gothic. The castle served a representative, residential, and defensive purpose. Original elements of décor have survived to this day.

The landmark, along with the buildings that surround it, constitutes the currently restored branch of the Karwacjan and Gładysz Manors Museum. The branch is a jewel of Polish Renaissance architecture and serves as a modern conference and exhibition centre. It is the birthplace of the International Forum of Central-Eastern European Culture, which promotes Lesser Poland and the culture of other countries: Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Austria, Germany, Russia, and the Baltic States. It goal is also to present the multicultural traditions of Gorlice and the surrounding lands, which had been inhabited by Polish, Jewish, and Lemko communities until the end of the Second World War.

The area adjacent to the castle holds an open-air museum of folk architecture, where structures from the Gorlice region are exhibited. The interiors are fitted with original equipment from the late 19th century, early 20th century, and the interwar period. Displays of traditional crafts and rural activities are organised here.

There is a late-18th century wooden church in the centre of Szymbark, and next to it – a stone belfry. What is also noteworthy is the new, architecturally interesting Roman Catholic church, as well as the cemetery, where one can see 19th-century gravestones. The Greek orthodox church in the hamlet of Wólka is worth visitingą.

sources:
www.szymbark.info
www.muzeum.gorlice.pl
www.igipz.pan.pl

For over 30 years, during the summer, the Lower Beskids has been holding the Lemko Vatra (currently in Zdynia), which brings together the Lemko community from all over the world. The event’s program includes concerts, exhibitions, workshops, and meetings with authors. Its organiser is the Lemko Union. From the event’s website: “Dispersed over half a century ago to the four corners of the world, the indigenous inhabitants of Lemkovina, the Rusyns-Ukrainians, were supposed to disappear. They were supposed to dissipate in a sea of the majority. It is out of their overwhelming longing for the mountain Motherland that the idea for organising the Lemko Vatra has sprung.”

The Lower Beskids are the wildest mountain range in Poland. It is surprisingly serene; one does not encounter many tourists on the trails, and the forgotten valleys, once teeming with life, are completely empty today. However, the beautiful sights and tranquillity clash with the traces of an eventful history of the land and its inhabitants. Among the noteworthy Cultural landmarks are wooden Orthodox and Catholic churches, wayside shrines, deserted Lemko cottages, a fortified Renaissance manor and open-air museum in Szymbark, as well as World-War-I-era cemeteries that are testimony to the region’s bloody history, and the resting place of soldiers from Poland, Germany, Austria, Romania, Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia, and other countries.

sources:
www.pl.wikipedia.org
www.beskid-niski.pl
www.watrazdynia.pl

The landscape is very diversified here, picturesque and attractive for tourists: a mountain-and-forest south part around Bielanka and the hilly remaining part, separated by the Ropa river valley. In the Gorlice municipality we can find everything which characterises the landscape, the climate, the architecture, the ethnography and the tradition of the entire Gorlice region, known as Ziemia Gorlicka – the Gorlice Land.

The Gorlice municipality is characterized by biculturalism, just like the entire region. Villages situated in the sub-cordillera near the Ropa river has been inhabited by Pogórzanie, or Uplanders, for centuries. Up to this day their traditions are cultivated in Bystra, Dominikowice, Kobylanka, Klęczany, Kwiatonowice, Ropica Polska, Stróżówka, Szymbark and Zagórzany. Bielanka village, on the other hand, is located in the west part of Beskid Niski. It is an old Lemko village and it literally constitutes a gateway to Lemkivshchyna, inhabited by the Lemko people – a group different both ethnically and denominationally from Podgórze Poles.

The municipality is also distinguished by its rich history – including its best-known event, the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive (1915), which resulted in breaking the Russian front and shaping post-war geopolitics.

What the tourists will find here is quiet, clean air, picturesque landscapes, hospitable inhabitants, and a number of agrotourism farms with traditional cooking based on ecological food. Tourist attractions include: the Szymbark castle, the sanctuary in Kobylanka, Orthodox churches in Bielanka and Owczary, the wooden church in Binarowa, the centre of lace-making and the old synagogue in Bobowa, the Lemko village Bartna, the Gothic church in Sękowa, the picturesque Ropa lagoon in Klimkówka, the Wapienne and Wysowa health resorts, the nature reserve in Jelenia Góra, the Wine Bicycle Trail (Winny Szlak Rowerowy), and the nature-educational trail that follows the Wooden Architecture Route. Convenient roads make it possible to travel to nearby Slovakia.

The Gorlice municipality was a partner of the project to create the Carpathian-Galician Petroleum Route, which was supposed to save the history of the cradle of the world petroleum industry in Gorlice region from oblivion. In the municipality there is a Culture Centre which organises folk events in accordance with the traditional rite calendar.

sources:
www.gmina.gorlice.pl

When in Gorlice, visit: the Karwcjan Manor (15th century), the neo-Renaissance Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the tenement houses around the town square (18th-19th century), the City Hall, the PTTK Museum, the Minor Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary (designed by M.F. Pavoni, with an altar by Marconi and painting by Jan Styka), the Orthodox church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the wayside shrines on Węgierska and Krzywa streets.

In Gorlice one can visit the Necropolises that commemorate the heroes of the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive – the largest Eastern Front battle of World War I. Gorlice alone holds five war cemeteries (the powiat holds several dozen) that are testimony to the bloody struggles from almost a century ago. Numerous souvenirs from those days can also be seen at the Regional PTTK Museum.

sources:
www.gorlice.pl