GLICZARÓW GÓRNY – Official Village Website
Location and settlement pattern
Gliczarów is situated on the Spisko-Gubałów foothills, on a steep ridge between the valley of the Biały Dunajec River and the Bukowina Tatrzańska area. Today Gliczarów Górny reaches about 900 to 1006 m above sea level and is one of the highest located villages in Poland.
Administratively it currently belongs to the commune of Biały Dunajec, Tatra County, Małopolska Voivodeship; in the years 1975 to 1998 it formed part of the Nowy Sącz Voivodeship. At present the locality is divided into the hamlets: Cudzichowie, Cupaki, Fiśkowa Dolina, Iwańscy, Jurzyści, Łuszczkowie, Skowyrowie, Stasindowie. In Gliczarów Górny the following streets are distinguished: Fiśkowa Dolina Street, Golocki Street, Iwan Street, Jurzyste Street, Kaniówka Street, Matygówka Street, Rząski Street, Tatrzańska Street, Widokowa Street and Wierchy Street.
Name of the village
The name “Gliczarów” has two possible origins. Some authors derive it from the language of the Wallachian shepherds: “glicza” as a term for a place of strong winds. Others point to the German “Gletscher” – glacier – as a possible source, although in the local context it is more metaphorical (a cool, wind-swept ridge) than literal. In local literature there are occasional suggestions of a much earlier, “medieval” origin of the name.
Earliest traces of settlement
Although there are no documented archaeological finds for Gliczarów itself, research for this part of Podhale shows individual traces of human presence from the Late Paleolithic and Neolithic in the Dunajec valley and on the fringes of the Tatras.
In the 12th century the area of today’s Gliczarów was a complex of forests with peat bogs and meadows in the lower parts. Permanent settlement developed in the valleys (for example Nowy Targ, Czarny Dunajec, Ludźmierz), while the higher ridges – such as the later Wierchy in Gliczarów or Bańska Wyżna – served rather as seasonal pastures (hala, shepherds’ huts) than villages in the legal sense.
Before the village of “Gliczarów” was established, there were seasonally used pastoral clearings on its ridge, combining the tradition of Wallachian pastoralism with agricultural settlement from the Biały Dunajec valley.
Foundation of the village and the 17th–18th centuries
The first known references to Gliczarów date back to around 1630, when Marcin Bafia founded the village under Wallachian law. This meant a relatively late, high-mountain phase of the colonisation of Podhale, at a time when the valleys were already largely settled. On 4 February 1668 in Kraków, Marcin’s son Andrzej Bafia received from King John II Casimir a privilege to hold the sołectwo in “Gleycarów”. This privilege probably confirmed an existing factual situation: a functioning village with peasant holdings, common forests and pastures, and a hereditary sołtys (vogt) from the Bafia family.
Until the end of the 18th century Gliczarów formed part of the Nowy Targ starosty, more precisely the so-called Szaflary estate. Documents from the early 19th century list this estate as including, among others, Bańska, Biały Dunajec, Gliczarów, Murzasichle, Poronin, Skrzypne, Szaflary and Zaskale.
The social structure of the village in this period was typical: several dozen peasant farms with highly fragmented strips of land, a sołtys or wójt with a larger area and judicial privileges, an inn as an important economic point, and common grazing on the ridges (today’s hamlets Bartków Wierch, Dziadkówka, Fiśkowa Dolina and others).
The partition period (late 18th century – 1918)
After the First Partition of Poland this area was lost to Austria – it became part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. The former royal land was transformed into a state domain, and in 1819 the Szaflary estate (together with Gliczarów) was sold to Tomasz and Honorata Uznański, burghers from Kraków, who became owners of substantial properties in Podhale.
For the inhabitants this meant the continuation of serfdom toward a new landlord. The economy was almost exclusively agricultural and pastoral: cultivation of cold-resistant cereals (oats, rye), sheep and cattle breeding, forest clearing (wood for fuel and construction), timber rafting down the Dunajec, and cottage crafts (carpentry, joinery, weaving, simple tool making).
In the 19th century the peasants were gradually enfranchised, but in mountain conditions enfranchisement meant ownership of very small and fragmented plots of land – the beginnings of the later problem of agrarian overpopulation.
In this period one of the most important figures for Gliczarów was born – Wojciech Kułach Wawrzyńcok (born 1812 in Gliczarów Dolny), an outstanding folk sculptor known as the “Leonardo da Vinci of Gliczarów”. He created altars and sculptures in Zakopane, Ludźmierz and Białka, as well as numerous roadside shrines and crosses in Gliczarów itself.
Gliczarów as a commune and the development of the village (19th/20th centuries)
In the second half of the 19th century, as part of the Galician self-government reform, the rural commune of Gliczarów was established, with its seat in the village between 1865 and 1935. It was a unit that brought the local community together around its own communal office, which strengthened the village’s position in the region.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century contacts with urban centres (Nowy Targ, Zakopane) intensified. The first educational initiatives appeared – in 1910 a school was established in Gliczarów (later the Primary School of Wojciech Kułach Wawrzyńcok in Gliczarów Dolny).
The social structure was still made up primarily of small farmers; the local elite consisted of wealthier families (including the Bafia, Kułach and Rzepka families). Their advantage resulted from larger land holdings, access to offices (sołtys, member of the communal council) and contacts with “the town”.
World War I and the Second Polish Republic
During World War I Gliczarów lay away from the main Carpathian front, but many inhabitants served in the Austro-Hungarian army.
After 1918 the village found itself within the borders of the Second Polish Republic. Social life revived – some inhabitants became involved in the peasant movement, the Highlanders’ Union (Związek Podhalan) and Catholic Action. Through marriage and activity, Andrzej Skupień-Florek, a well-known poet, storyteller and regional activist, was associated with Gliczarów; he initiated, among other things, the construction of the school in Gliczarów Górny and served on the communal council of Biały Dunajec.
The economy remained agricultural. Overpopulation and the low productivity of agriculture pushed some inhabitants toward seasonal work in cities or emigration (America, Silesia, the Czech lands).
World War II
During the German occupation Gliczarów – like the whole of Podhale – was part of the General Government. In Podhale the “Goralenvolk” program was implemented, an attempt to separate the Highlanders as a distinct nation. In their justifications the Germans referred, among other things, to the thesis that the Highlanders had an origin similar to their own, tracing links with the Celts, for example through highlander clasps. In post-war documents and publications it is emphasized that in many villages, including the area of Biały Dunajec, there was prevailing distance or open opposition to this policy. For this reason some inhabitants of Gliczarów were sent to forced labour, including in Germany and Austria, and individual young men took part in underground structures (Home Army, Peasant Battalions) operating in the Tatra region.
Division into Gliczarów Dolny and Górny, the Polish People’s Republic
After World War II the historical Gliczarów was formally divided into two separate localities: Gliczarów Dolny (the older part, by the valley) and Gliczarów Górny (the higher situated part). This division became entrenched in administration only after the war; previously it had been a single village.
The authorities of the Polish People’s Republic carried out electrification, construction of access roads and a gradual improvement of infrastructure. However, the model of small farms persisted, often combined with paid work outside the village. Pastoralism (sheep, cattle) and forest logging still played a major role, although they began to be replaced by income from the emerging tourism in Zakopane and Bukowina Tatrzańska.
In the years 1975 to 1998 both villages belonged to the Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; in the new administrative division from 1999 they have formed part of Tatra County in the Małopolska Voivodeship.
A key change in the religious sphere was the construction of the new church in Gliczarów Górny (1980 to 1984) on a plot donated by local farmers – the Pawlikowski and Bafia families. Initially the church was a filial of the parish of Biały Dunajec; the independent Parish of the Transfiguration of the Lord was established in 1999. In Gliczarów Dolny since the 1980s there has been a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist, still belonging to the parish of Biały Dunajec.
Post-1989 transformation and the present day
After 1989 accelerated transformation took place: a rapid increase in single-family and guesthouse construction on the slopes of the Wierchy, the development of accommodation and catering facilities, and the creation of a ski station and complexes of ski lifts (button lifts and conveyor belts), with artificial snowmaking and lighting, located between Fiśkowa Dolina and Dziadkówka.
The locality is increasingly shifting from an agricultural to a tourism and leisure model: the share of income from accommodation services, gastronomy, skiing and scenic tourism is growing (the panorama of the Tatras from the Wierchy is now regarded as one of the most beautiful in the region).
At the same time the traditional system of holidays and events is maintained: the Gliczarów Festival (15 August), harvest festival, ski rally for the Gliczarów Cup, start of the John Paul II ski race; in recent years these events have often been combined with charity campaigns.
According to the 2011 census Gliczarów Górny had 573 inhabitants and Gliczarów Dolny 495, giving around 1068 inhabitants for the historical Gliczarów. Parish data give about 560 faithful for the parish of Gliczarów Górny.
Social structures, parishes, institutions
Contemporary Gliczarów has the classic layout of a Podhale village: the sołectwo of Gliczarów Górny, the Parish of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Gliczarów Górny (established 1999) with a church in Tatra style, a Volunteer Fire Brigade, cemetery, pastoral groups (oasis, liturgical service) and a primary school in Gliczarów Górny named after Andrzej Skupień-Florek.
The Volunteer Fire Brigade is active, as are local rural housewives’ circles, parish organisations and various informal regional initiatives (competitions devoted to Kułach Wawrzyńcok, reviews of artistic work, rallies).
Economy, agriculture, pastoralism, crafts, transport
Historically the basis of livelihood was small mixed farms: cereals, potatoes, sheep, dairy cattle, sheep’s wool. The high altitude meant a shorter growing season and the need to combine farming with grazing on mountain pastures and seasonal work outside the village.
There is a strong tradition of carpentry and woodcarving (including the legacy of Wojciech Kułach Wawrzyńcok), as well as small crafts such as furriery, the making of elements of the highlander costume and building joinery.
Small sawmills and workshops operated in Gliczarów. Larger workplaces were located in nearby towns (Nowy Targ, Zakopane) and this is where the daily commuting of inhabitants for work was directed.
Access is based on a local road from the side of Biały Dunajec and Bukowina Tatrzańska; for many years minibuses from Zakopane and Nowy Targ have played a key role.
Folk culture, dialect, traditions and heritage
Gliczarów belongs to the classic area of Podhale culture: the Podhale dialect, highlander costume, music based on bagpipes, violins and basses, the zbójnicki dance and characteristic wooden architecture.
The local dialect is one of the variants of the Podhale dialect, with typical phonetic features (including mazuration and the loss of some vowels in final position) and rich pastoral vocabulary.
There is strong folk religiosity (numerous roadside shrines, including works by Kułach), Corpus Christi processions, the indulgence feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, harvest festivals, the highlander Christmas wafer meeting, carol singing with a star and the turoń.
Tangible heritage includes shrines and crosses by or from the circle of Kułach Wawrzyńcok, traditional log houses, the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Tatra style and memorial rooms in the schools (Kułach Wawrzyńcok, Andrzej Skupień-Florek).
Intangible heritage consists of the oral transmission about former farmers, shepherds’ huts and grazing, songs and stories preserved for example by Andrzej Skupień-Florek, as well as local competitions and festivals (the Gliczarów Festival, “Gaździna of the Year” contests etc.), which uphold traditional patterns of the role of the woman-housewife and the man-gazda.
Social and demographic changes
Since the end of the 19th century Gliczarów has experienced phenomena typical of a mountain village: agrarian overpopulation and emigration, a gradual decline in the number of people living solely from agriculture, an increase in the share of the population commuting to work outside the village and, after 1989, a strong shift toward tourism services. In the long term this means a transformation of the social structure from “almost exclusively farming” to a mixed model: farms plus guesthouses plus wage work.
Institutions
Historical maps
Galicia and Bukovina (1861–1864) – Second military survey of the Habsburg Empire
Galicia and Lodomeria (1779–1783) – First military survey