Cemeteries from the First World War

On Rotunda (771 m), located east of Regietów, we can visit the Cemetery no 51 from the First World War which is mainly created from wood. During the war, the front went through the Low Beskids – Russians were trying to cross the Carpathians. Fierce battles in the region lasted from winter 1914 to spring 1915. During the Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive (2nd – 5th May 1915) the Austro-Hungarians managed to crush the resistance of Russians. Numerous temporary graves were left in the mountains after those dramatic fights. To order them, the Department of War Graves was created and 10 grave areas were distinguished. Each of them had their own artistic executive.

Dušan Jurkovič – an outstanding Slovak architect – was the artistic executive for the Cemetery on Rotunda which is considered to be the most beautiful of all military cemeteries. Jurkovič placed all his cemeteries in proto-Slavic style on tops or slopes of mountains so that they would be visible from a distance. After the resettlement of Lemko people, when the area of the Low Beskids became deserted, the cemeteries started to overgrow and fall to ruin. The necropolis on Rotunda was also eaten by the tooth of time. The reconstruction works started in 1995 and finished in 2018. Nowadays the cemetery presents itself majestically and it is worth going for a short walk there along the red trail from Regietów.