Beskidek

Beskidek (Slovak Beskydek) is a 685 m wooded summit in the Low Beskid on the Polish–Slovak border, above the village of Konieczna. It lies on the main Carpathian ridge between Jaworzyna Konieczniańska to the west and the Beskidek (Dujava) pass to the south-east; a shallow saddle of about 650 m separates it from Jaworzyna. Konieczna is about 1.8 km away, Zdynia about 2.6 km. The Polish side belongs to the Uście Gorlickie municipality of Gorlice County, the Slovak side to Bardejov District. About 2.8 km from the summit, on the Slovak side, is the source of the Ondava river. The summit's main sight is First World War cemetery no. 46.

How to get there / routes

The border ridge over Beskidek carries the red trail of the Slovak East Carpathian Main Trail (also E3 and Via Slovakia) and the blue PTTK trail on the Polish side. The shortest approach is from the Beskidek (Dujava) pass on the road between Konieczna and Slovak Becherov: the cemetery lies about 800 m north-west of the pass. You can continue west along the ridge to Jaworzyna Konieczniańska and the Regietów Pass. Sources give no official walking times.

What you can see from the summit

The summit is wooded, so there is no wide panorama; the main thing to see is the cemetery itself.

Nature and history

Cemetery no. 46 “Konieczna – Beskidek” is an Austrian military burial ground from 1915. It lies in the summit area on the north-eastern side; the state border runs past its fence on the south-west. In 6 mass and 48 individual graves rest 303 soldiers killed in January–February 1915: 168 Austro-Hungarian soldiers from nine infantry regiments and 135 Russians from the 193rd and 195th infantry regiments. The names of 163 Austro-Hungarian soldiers are known; 5 Austro-Hungarian and 134 Russian soldiers remain unidentified.

The 2047 m² cemetery was designed by Dušan Jurkovič. Its plan resembles a Latin cross, and it is enclosed by a wooden picket fence between stone posts with shingle caps; the entrance is a double wooden gate. The main feature is a two-storey, 20 m stone tower on a stone terrace, with a high shingle roof topped by an iron cross bearing a solar symbol. Wooden Latin crosses are fixed to the four sides of the upper storey, and plaques with German inscriptions to the lower one. One of them, freely translated, says that here, among dark forests, fragrant herbs and mountains shining in the distance, brave soldiers have gone to rest. Austro-Hungarian graves are marked with carved Latin crosses, Russian ones with patriarchal crosses; all crosses have small wooden roofs and the graves are edged with stone kerbs.

It is one of more than 400 West Galician war cemeteries and was built in 1915 by the War Graves Department of the Military Command in Kraków, in cemetery district no. I (Żmigród).

Safety, season and rules

Beskidek is an easy wooded summit accessible all year. The cemetery is a monument and a burial place – behave respectfully and do not climb the tower or the fence. The border is in the Schengen area, but carry your passport. There is no water on the ridge. The Polish side is covered by the Krynica group of GOPR: 985 or +48 601 100 300, or 112; in Slovakia call HZS: 18 300 (+421 18 300) or 112.

Interesting facts

• The cemetery tower is 20 m tall.
• Of the 135 Russian soldiers buried here, only one has been identified.

Photos: Bartłomiej Kiełtyka, CC BY-SA 4.0; Timaska, Public domain; Timaska, Public domain; Bartłomiej Kiełtyka, CC BY-SA 4.0; Henryk Bielamowicz, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.