Pęksowy Brzyzek is one of Zakopane's most memorable places – and not just because it's a cemetery. It's an open-air gallery where hand-carved highlander crosses, painted-glass chapel niches and unique tombstones tell the story of the people who shaped the legend of the Polish Tatras.

Nestled along Kościeliska Street and enclosed by a stone wall adorned with bas-reliefs, this historic cemetery holds over 250 distinguished figures – artists, writers, mountaineers and highlanders. The atmosphere shifts beautifully with the seasons: autumn leaves settle on mossy graves, winter snow blankets wooden crosses, and spring brings a quiet, contemplative calm beneath the old trees. It's a place that invites reflection as much as admiration.

• Zakopane town centre – Kościeliska Street, approximately 10 minutes' walk from Krupówki promenade, easy on foot

• Since mid-June 2014, the parish charges a small entrance fee, which goes directly towards the conservation of the tombstones
• Since 1931, the cemetery has been a listed monument – only people of outstanding merit to Zakopane, the Tatras and the Podhale region may be buried here
• The cemetery gate was designed by Stanisław Witkiewicz, the father of the Zakopane Style of architecture

Among the graves you'll find a symbolic tomb of Witkacy, resting places of Kornel Makuszyński, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Tytus Chałubiński and Władysław Orkan – a true walk through Polish cultural history. The cemetery was founded in 1851 by Józef Stolarczyk, Zakopane's first parish priest, on land donated by a local highlander named Jan Pęksa.