Inn in Jeleśnia

The inn in Jeleśnia (Karczma w Jeleśni) stands by the market square in the Żywiec Beskids. It is a wooden building of log construction with a broken roof, dated to the second half of the 18th century, one of two surviving authentic buildings of this type in the region. Today it houses a restaurant and café.

What the inn was used for

In the 18th century inns in Beskid villages were a place for merchants to stop, to meet, to eat and to stay overnight. They also sold fodder for horses. It is thought that only two authentic buildings from this period have survived into the 21st century: the “Rzym” inn in Sucha Beskidzka and the inn in Jeleśnia.

The square between the inn and the church was a market place on the trade route linking Żywiec with Orava.

Where it came from

Originally the building was a forester’s house, put up together with a gamekeeper’s lodge, which stands next door to this day and is now a nursery school. Only later did it take on the role of an inn. The ceiling in the central room, according to tradition, was moved from the Cloth Hall in Kraków in the 19th century. It bears the date 1774.

In the 19th century a general renovation with extension was carried out, and a porch and a rear wing were added. During the Second World War an artillery shell hit the inn and it had to be repaired. In 1838 it became the property of the Habsburgs of Żywiec, and in 1954 it was sold to the “Samopomoc Chłopska” Municipal Cooperative.

What it looks like

It occupies an area of 490 m². The ceiling is supported by a central beam, the “sosręb”. Formerly a hallway divided the building into a lodging part and a catering part, but it no longer exists. At the entrance there is an inscription in local dialect, in which a passer-by is asked whether he has lost his mind, since the inn stands by the road while he is heading home.

In the main buffet room the fireplace was used for cooking and for sleeping on the so-called “przypiecek”, a ledge by the hearth. The interior is decorated with paintings of folk scenes and tissue-paper decorations, for which the Jeleśnia area is famous. The building is adorned with images of horses’ heads.

According to the monument record it is a wooden building on an L-shaped plan, with an open porch on two columns. The inn is on the Wooden Architecture Trail of the Silesian Voivodeship (the main route) and is entered in the heritage register.

Nearby

It is about 3.2 km as the crow flies to the Brine Graduation Tower in Jeleśnia. On the way into the mountains you can visit the Waterfall in Sopotnia or the Motorcycle Museum.

Practical information

• Address: Rynek 12, Jeleśnia.
• A restaurant operates in the building; the inn’s website and the monument record give different opening hours, so check them before your visit.
• A visit to the interior is usually combined with a meal or a coffee.