Church Museum of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Bartne

The Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Bartne is a former Greek Catholic Lemko church in a valley among the forests of the Low Beskids, which has served as a museum for more than half a century. It is a branch of the Karwacjan and Gładysz Manor Houses Museum in Gorlice. Bartne is a village with a special history: its name comes from forest beekeeping (bartnictwo), and in the 19th century it became famous for its stonemasons, who used the hard sandstone of Magurycz hill to make quern stones, millstones, wayside crosses and gravestones. Stefan Szkurat, the father of the great Ukrainian composer Dmytro Bortniansky, came from here – the composer's surname derives from the village name. In 1870–1892 the Lemko priest and writer Volodymyr Khyliak served here and wrote his most important works, including the novella "Shybenychnyi Verkh". During the First World War the fighting of the Gorlice offensive raged around the village – a war cemetery recalls it.

The church was built in 1842 – the date is carved above the entrance to the narthex; the lower part of the tower may date from the 18th century. In 1947, after the Lemkos were deported in Operation Vistula, the church was abandoned and partly destroyed. In 1968–1970 it was thoroughly restored, regaining its shingle roofing, and in 1970 it was turned into a museum. At the end of the 1950s some of the deported families returned to Bartne, and their descendants still live here. In 2025 the church and the neighbouring granary were renovated again. The village also has another, Orthodox church of the same saints, built in 1928.

What to see

• The church itself – a three-part log building with a timber-frame tower, tent roofs and domes topped with decorative lanterns; roofs and walls are covered with shingles, and a wooden fence with a shingled cap surrounds it.
• The late Baroque iconostasis of the 18th century – the most valuable piece; its principal icons are much older, dated to the 16th century.
• A side altar of 1797 with an icon of the Crucifixion, 18th-century icons (Mother of God with Child, Christ), ceilings painted with ornament and a gallery-shaped choir loft.
• A door frame with images of the Apostles Peter and Paul from 1780, from the no longer existing church in Nieznajowa.
• A stone parish granary from the first half of the 19th century with an exhibition on the history of local stonemasonry, a wooden stone-working hammer mill and the Lemko churchyard with stone gravestones made by local craftsmen.

Practical information

Bartne lies in Sękowa municipality, about 20 km south-east of Gorlice; the easiest way is by car via Sękowa and Małastów. The church is open on most days of the week except Friday, but visits must be arranged in advance by phone with the guide; a ticket costs just 5 zł, and there is a joint ticket with the Tar-Makers' Farmstead in Łosie. A visit takes 30–45 minutes. The museum is building reconstructions of traditional Lemko cottages nearby, so there may be construction work around the church.

Nearby: trails and peaks

Several of our routes pass the church: Bartne – Krempna through the forests of Magura National Park, Folusz – Bartne – Radocyna – Konieczna and Chatka w Nieznajowej – Kornuty. A branch of the same museum with a traditional Lemko farmstead is worth seeing in Łosie – the Tar-Makers’ Farmstead in Łosie – and another Lemko open-air museum is the Museum of Lemko Culture in Zyndranowa.

Official website: muzeum.gorlice.pl

Photos: Henryk Bielamowicz, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Henryk Bielamowicz, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl, Wikimedia Commons.