Leskowiec mountain hostel
Medals available at the hostel!
A tourist hostel located in the Beskid Andrychowski (eastern part of the Beskid Mały), below the summit of Gronio Jana Pawła II (formerly Jaworzyna – 890 metres above sea level). It is inaccurately referred to as the Leskowiec mountain hostel, as this mountain is located nearby.
The initiative to build the facility was first put forward by activists of the Wadowice branch of the Polish Tatra Society in 1926, but it was not until 1932 that a hall below the peak of Jaworzyna was purchased from a farmer in Targoszów. The construction took an exceptionally short time – in 1932, Jan Bargiel, a carpenter from Targoszów, erected the building on the purchased land within 4 months. In addition to contributions from local PTT members, the construction was supported by the main board, and some of the equipment was donated from the shelter in Markowa Szczawiny. Czesław Panczakiewicz, chairman of the Wadowice branch of the PTT, was the construction supervisor and its main enthusiast.
The ceremonial opening of the mountain hostel took place on 3 September 1932[1]. One of the PTT activists described the hostel in the following way: ‘Below the summit, a wooden house on a foundation, quite simple and ordinary, not sick of style. It was the first hostel in this part of the Beskid Mały[2].
Due to the great interest of tourists, it was necessary to add a dining hall and enlarge the kitchen as early as 1934.
The first landlord was Franciszek Byrski, and from 1938 Jan Targosz and his wife. During World War II, the building was formally taken over by the Beskidenverein. Formally, because the individual sections of the organisation could not agree to which section the chalet should belong. The Bielsko-Biała branch, which temporarily administered it, took little interest in the building, which was deteriorating and had no water. No tourists were admitted, and Jan Targosz was left in charge to ensure that the furnishings were not stolen. In 1945, German troops were about to burn down the chalet, but were treated to moonshine by the host, and so the building survived.
After the war, the chalet was returned into the hands of PTT, and later PTTK. During some decades of the People’s Republic of Poland, there were problems with maintaining the hostel, but nowadays, thanks to the pilgrimage movement to Grobń Jana Pawła II, the hostel is one of the more popular facilities in this part of the Beskids. A few years ago it underwent general renovation, and in 2002 it was given the name of Czesław Panczakiewicz, the initiator of its construction 70 years ago.
