Hidden in the quiet forests of the Beskid Niski mountains, right by the Slovak border, lies one of the most moving World War I cemeteries – a work by architect Dušan Jurkovič. This is a place where history speaks through silence, and a monumental stone tower recalls hundreds of soldiers who never made it home.

The cemetery sits atop the Beskidek hill, surrounded by dense forest, giving the site a deeply contemplative atmosphere. In summer, sunlight filters through the green canopy; in autumn, the area turns golden with falling leaves; in winter, snow blankets the graves and wooden crosses in an almost fairytale scene. Whatever the season, a rare sense of peace and gravity fills this place.

How to get there

• Konieczna – trail towards Beskidek pass (Dujawa), about 800 m further northwest, easy to moderate route, roughly 30-40 minutes walk
• Can be combined with a hike along the Polish-Slovak border for more experienced hikers

Practical information

• 303 Austro-Hungarian and Russian soldiers who fell in January and February 1915 are buried here
• The centerpiece is a twenty-meter stone tower topped with an iron cross bearing a solar symbol
• Austro-Hungarian soldiers' graves are marked with Latin crosses, Russian soldiers' with patriarchal crosses
• The site is part of a network of over 400 West Galician war cemeteries from World War I

One of the inscriptions on the cemetery reads, in free translation: 'Here, among dark forests, fragrant herbs and mountains glistening in the distance, brave soldiers, having defeated the enemy, went to rest.' This place is worth visiting not only for history enthusiasts, but for anyone seeking a moment of reflection amid mountain scenery.