Józef Szalay Pieniny Museum

The Józef Szalay Pieniny Museum (Muzeum Pienińskie im. Józefa Szalaya) is a branch of the Nowy Sącz District Museum (Muzeum Ziemi Sądeckiej). Since 2014 it has occupied a former Border Guard station on Łemkowska Street in Szlachtowa near Szczawnica. The display leads visitors along the trail of the Pieniny past: it introduces the people who lived here long before the spa existed, tells what the Dunajec river and the mountain pastures meant to them, and explains why many of them had to leave their homes.

The museum's story began in 1957, when the Pieniny branch of the Society of Friends of Highland Culture and Art started collecting exhibits. The first museum display opened in 1959 in the Dworek Gościnny guest house in Szczawnica; in 1962 the building burned down, but the collection was saved. Later the museum moved to the "Pałac" villa and became a branch of the district museum in Nowy Sącz. In 2012 the villa was returned to the heirs of its former owners, the Stadnicki family, so the collection moved to Szlachtowa, where the new exhibition opened on 23 August 2014. The museum is named after Józef Szalay (1802–1876), born in Drohobych, who is regarded as the founder of the Szczawnica spa: he built bathhouses and guest houses, developed the mineral springs, published the first guidebook to Szczawnica (1857), painted the first emblems of the local highland families and organised the first rafting trips through the Dunajec Gorge.

What to see

• Dunajec gallery – at the start of the route: the river that links Czorsztyn, Sromowce, Szczawnica and Krościenko, including views from the raftsmen's boats.
• The Pieniny microcosm – a borderland of cultures, faiths and nations: the 13th century, when defensive castles were built in the Pieniny and St Kinga founded settlements, churches of different denominations and old homes.
• Highlanders and Rusyns – the people of the Pieniny villages shared shepherding, similar building styles and folk dress; typical trades were rafting among the Górale and wire-working among the Rusyns. A separate part covers Szlachtowa Ruthenia, the Second World War and Operation Vistula.
• Szczawnica spa – 19th-century treatment methods, old Szczawnica interiors and landscapes, and the spa guests, many of whom came from the aristocratic, scholarly, literary and artistic elites. The tour ends on the bank of the Dunajec, on the old Pieniny Road, the favourite promenade of Szczawnica's visitors.

The museum also holds temporary exhibitions, workshops in Pieniny embroidery and glass painting, and sessions on the archaeology, ethnography and legends of the Pieniny.

Practical information

The museum is about 4 km (roughly 6 minutes by car) from the centre of Szczawnica, 9.2 km from the centre of Krościenko and 1.7 km from the Homole Gorge. There is a large free car and coach park by the building, and the museum is marked as a "Cyclist-Friendly Place". It is open Tuesday to Sunday; a standard ticket costs 15 zł, a family ticket 43 zł, and admission is free on Sundays (more in the "At a glance" box). Organised groups can book a guide. Szlachtowa is a handy base both for the higher parts of the Pieniny and for the scenic valleys, so the museum fits easily into a day when the weather is not right for a long hike.

Nearby: trails and peaks

Just 150 metres from the museum runs our trail Lesnické Saddle – Szlachtowa, and a kilometre and a half away starts Jaworki – Korbalowa Pass/Stráňanské Saddle. Close by, 1.8 km away, is the Homole Gorge, a short walk that combines easily with a museum visit. The nearest summits are Jarmuta (794 m) and Wysoki Wierch (898 m), and in Szczawnica itself it is worth strolling through the spa park, where a bust of Józef Szalay stands.

Official website: muzeum.sacz.pl

Photos: Rafał M. Socha (Azymut), CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; mik Krakow, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons; Muzeum Okręgowe w Nowym Sączu, official website.