Chilly Zakopane

In order break the ice and get everyone settled in before classes start on Monday, we have the option to attend some touristy excursions. Today I went to the mountain village of Zakopane at the foot of the Tatra mountains. Unfortunately it rained all day so things were a little chilly and soggy.

Our first, and my favourite, stop was at the Willa Koliba museum of Zakopane style designed by the famous artist and writer Stanisław Witkiewicz at the turn of the 20th century. To tell you the truth, I did not catch all the details since there was no guide and all the signs were in Polish. I was able to glean some information from the handout given to us by our program leader and from the internet, though so here are the interesting bits. The house was basically an experimental design that Witkiewicz was trying out in an attempt to develop a unique Polish style of architecture (see more at www.culture.pl). It was originally built as the summer home of Zygmunt Gnatowski, who collected Tatra folklore and artifacts, but is now a museum containing treasures of Góral (or Highlanders) culture. All the furniture was carved with ornate Tatra motifs and many examples of ornate lacework and embroidery from early in the 20th century. It was really something. Also displayed are pastel sketches by the architect's son Stanisław Jr. (a.k.a. Witkacy) which were done in the late 1920's. Featured prominently is a woman named Neny Stachurski (pictured here) who I can only assume was an intimate friend of the artist.

Next we visited the old cemetery, which had some of the more artistic tombstones I've seen. Many of the headstones were hacked out of bigger rocks which were already weathered, a light layer of moss and an elaborate garden planted in or around it added an interesting effect.

In order to escape the rain we rode up Gubałówka hill by funicular, which is essentially a railcar with a rope underneath to pull it up the hill. At the top we had a much needed break and sat inside one of the large wooden halls at huge tables made of logs and drank beer. Some meandering through the touristy streets and some light shopping and it was time to go home. I'm pooped.