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ul. Kościeliska, Zakopane
The Cemetery of the Meritorious at Pęksowy Brzyzek lies on Kościeliska Street, beside the old wooden church. Founded in the nineteenth century as the first burial ground in Zakopane, it still occupies a small, shaded plot above a stream. The name combines that of Jan Pęksa, who donated the land, with the highland dialect word brzyzek, meaning a bluff above water.
After a new cemetery was opened, the site was placed under heritage protection and burials were limited to people of merit. About five hundred graves are here, among them Tytus Chałubiński, Władysław Orkan, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer and Kornel Makuszyński, as well as local guides, mountain rescuers and artists of the Zakopane style.
Many headstones are works of folk art: crosses carved in wood, wrought iron details and stone forms drawing on highland tradition. The gate was designed by Stanisław Witkiewicz. A visit takes about half an hour and combines well with a walk along Kościeliska Street.
