The Museum of the Petroleum Industry and Ethnography in Libusza is a wonderful little discovery for anyone hiking through the Beskid Niski mountains who wants to understand the region's unique story of 'black gold'. It's a private museum created by Anna and Tadeusz Pabis, former oil industry workers who turned their passion for local heritage into a lasting legacy.

Libusza sits in the Gorlice district, right in the heart of a land famous for pioneering oil drilling dating back to the mid-19th century. Amid the gentle hills of the Beskid Niski, this is where the global petroleum industry took some of its earliest steps. Visiting the museum makes a perfect complement to a day of mountain hiking — after time spent on the trails, step into this small, atmospheric place where history feels close and personal. In spring and summer the surrounding hills invite further walks, in autumn the forests turn golden and red, and winter brings a quiet, sleepy charm to the whole region.

How to get there

• From Gorlice — a short drive or local bus ride, easy access via paved road
• For hikers and cyclists — Libusza lies close to the hiking trails of the Beskid Niski, making it a good starting point or stopover

Practical information

• Open year-round, on weekdays
• Two thematic sections: petroleum industry and regional ethnography
• Exhibits include an 1856 petroleum distillery and a mid-19th-century mine forge
• Since 2000, the museum has been supported by the Foundation for Popularizing the History of the Petroleum Industry in the Gorlice-Biecz Region

Here you can see models of oil wells nearly two centuries old and read biographies of hundreds of miners and oilmen who shaped the history of Poland's petroleum industry.