Tar Makers' Homestead (Zagroda Maziarska) in Łosie

In 1934, 335 carts loaded with axle grease, lubricants and oils set off from a single Lemko village in the Low Beskids. For decades the people of Łosie lived from travelling trade, reaching as far as Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary and Transylvania. Their story is told at the Zagroda Maziarska – a branch of the Karwacjan and Gładysz Manor Museum in Gorlice, set up in an original Lemko farmstead. (The Lemkos are a Rusyn ethnic group from the Carpathian borderlands.)

What the "maziarze" did

The original product of Łosie was kołomaź – a grease for the axles of wooden carts, made by dry distillation of pine waste. From the mid-19th century, as the oil industry developed in the Carpathian foothills, the traders – known as maziarze – switched to technical lubricants and petroleum-based oils. Until the Second World War this was the main source of income for most men in the village. Every spring specially adapted carts left Łosie, and the routes shifted with borders and politics – deep into Poland, to Russia, Lithuania and Latvia, to Hungary and Transylvania.

The tradition was ended by the deportations of Operation Vistula, launched in 1947, when the Lemko population was forcibly resettled. After the war only a dozen or so traders carried on, and the last one set off on the road in the 1970s. The wealth from trade left its mark on the village – on its architecture, dress and way of life.

What to see

The homestead is a traditional Lemko farm in situ, in its original location. It consists of a chyża (farmhouse) from 1899, a barn and a granary; the only relocated building is a farmhouse from Bartne dating from 1928. The permanent exhibition, curated by ethnographer Maria Brylak-Załuska, presents the grease trade against the background of western Lemko culture, along with other non-farming crafts such as spoon-making and birch-tar production. The farm building holds original traders' carts, including the cart of Dymitr Kareł, one of the last maziarze from Łosie. The granary houses the "Relics" exhibition – surviving 18th- and 19th-century crosses from the tops of Lemko churches that no longer exist.

The homestead stands next to a working Greek Catholic church from 1810, separated from it by a historic wall. It opened on 31 October 2009.

Practical information

Łosie lies in the Ropa municipality, Gorlice county. According to the museum's website the homestead is open Tuesday to Sunday: from April to October 9:00–16:30 Tuesday–Friday and 9:00–14:30 at weekends; from November to March 8:30–16:00 Tuesday–Friday and 9:00–14:30 on Saturdays, closed on Sundays. A standard ticket costs PLN 12, reduced PLN 6, and there is a combined ticket with the wooden church in Bartne. Guided group tours can be arranged by phone in advance.

Tripto tip

After your visit, take a walk through the village along the Łosianka stream – an unusually large number of houses from around 1900 have survived here. The exhibition itself takes about an hour. Note that since February 2026 the Szymbark Fortified Manor and the Karwacjan Manor in Gorlice have been closed to visitors, so check the museum's programme before planning a full day in the area.