Location and getting there
Jastrzębik lies at an altitude of about 550 metres at the foot of the 659-metre-high Jastrzębia Góra. The mountain setting gives the village a distinct landscape context. Jastrzębik can be reached by road from Krynica and from Złockie. You can check the route that best suits you before setting off. The altitude and road directions serve different purposes: the altitude locates the village, while the two directions mentioned help with planning your journey.
St. Luke’s Church: construction history
A distinctive cultural landmark is the wooden St. Luke’s Church. It was built in 1856 in the Western Lemko style, using parts of an earlier church building. The construction year and the reused parts point to two building phases: the church was built in the mid-19th century, while some of its components date back to a predecessor. The year 1856 refers to the church building; the reused parts point to an earlier construction history.
The church has three sections, a single nave and a log construction. “Three-section” describes its layout, “single-nave” its basic type of church interior, and “log construction” its building method. Next to the church stands a freestanding bell-gate tower, built at the beginning of the 20th century. It was built after 1856, so the church and tower can be dated to two separate periods. In log construction, beams are stacked one layer on top of another; the term therefore describes the construction method, not the three-part layout of the interior.
Furnishings from several centuries
The furnishings of St. Luke’s Church include items from several clearly distinguishable periods. Seven Deesis icons with apostles date from the mid-17th century. Several other icons date to the 18th century. The ornamental polychrome decoration dates from 1801, while the Baroque-Classicist iconostasis was created in the 19th century. The works mentioned thus span the 17th to the 19th centuries. The Deesis icons are the oldest explicitly dated group; the 1801 polychrome decoration and the 19th-century iconostasis represent later periods. This makes it possible to distinguish the dates of the building and its furnishings: the church was built in 1856, but the artworks mentioned date from several centuries.
Mineral springs and natural monument
The Jastrzębik valley has numerous low-yield mineral springs, including carbonated mineral waters. The number of springs and their low yield describe two different characteristics: numerous occurrences do not mean that the springs are highly productive. The mention of carbonated mineral waters adds a type of water to the information about quantity. Another natural feature is the Iwona spring, designated an inanimate natural monument. There is also a spring below the historic wooden St. Luke’s Church, which was formerly Greek Catholic. The springs, the designation of the Iwona spring and the church’s former denomination thus represent distinct aspects of nature and history.
For the broader travel overview: Muszyna.
