The wooden heritage of Dietl and Szalay

Krościenko was solely a foretaste of what we will see in Szczawnica. Even though it is famous for rafting on the Dunajec and beautiful trails, one should visit its upper part with the complex of spa buildings. It consists of wonderful, wooden villas designed in the Swiss-Tyrol style for health visitors. In majority, they date back to the second half of the 19th century. Szalay himself built ‘Pałac’ Villa – an impressive building with beautiful decorations. Wooden ‘Holenderka’ Villa houses the Museum of Szczawnica the Spa. Beautifully decorated ‘Szwajcarka’ definitely stands out – Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer lived there and a famous doctor, Onufry Trembecki, had his surgery there. A walk along Zdrojowa Street will be a great idea – one of the oldest buildings is located by the street. At number 3 we will find one of the first guest houses which could boast of a really high standard from the very beginning.

From Dietl’s Square we can go for a short, mountain walk in order to see the wooden Temple on Sewerynówka. The square is crossed by the blue hiking trail which leads us along the streets of Szczawnica to Zaskalnik Waterfall (another interesting spot) and almost to the temple (at ‘Sewerynówka’ water intake we do not turn right as the trail does but we go straight for another 300 m). The temple was established as a place for prayers for visitors staying nearby who had to cover a long distance to reach church.

The architecture of Szczawnica