Museums

Maziarska Homestead Museum in Łosie

In the village of Łosie near Gorlice, which lived off the maziar trade for centuries, operates the Maziarska Homestead — a Lemko open-air museum and a branch of the Dwory Karwacjanów i Gładyszów Museum in Gorlice. Three wooden buildings from the 19th century — a long residential chyża cottage, an outbuilding and a granary — tell the story of a craft that raised this village to the peak of prosperity.

What maziarstwo was

Tar-makers produced, from local seeps of crude oil — exploited here since settlement in the 13th and 14th centuries — a thick grease for greasing wooden axles of carts and tools, called “rock oil”. The trade was seasonal: tar-makers were away from home for half a year at a time, and the saying went that “he who does not grease, does not ride”. They traded across Europe — reaching Tallinn, Slovenia and Odessa — and each family had its own sales territory. In the peak year of 1934, 335 tar carts set off from the village; the last tar-maker left Łosie in the 1970s.

History of the homestead

The chyże cottages have stood here since the 19th century. The homesteads belonged to Lemko families, including the Spólniks — displaced in Operation Vistula in 1947, who returned after 1956 and tried to recover the farm taken over by the state. The exhibition shows two tar carts, barrels and dippers, samples of grease and oil, a tar-maker’s costume and maps of trade areas; a cross hangs over the stable to protect the animals — the family’s providers.

In practice

The homestead operates at Łosie 34 (Ropa commune, Gorlice county) all year round, daily except Mondays. Tickets and hours are set by the Dwory Karwacjanów i Gładyszów Museum — current information is on muzeum.gorlice.pl. It is worth combining the visit with the manor in Szymbark or the open-air museum of the Pogórze villages — sister sites of the same museum.