Lesko

Lesko - a town founded in 1470 by the mighty Kmita family from Wiśnicz. It is thanks to the successive generations of this family that Lesko grows and receives many privileges. The following constructions include a castle, a church and the town square with streets. Under the royal privilege, the settlement is granted the right to organize weekly fairs and 3 yearly fairs.
After the Kmitas, the next owners of Lesko estates are the Stadnickis, Ossolińskis, and Mniszechs, and the last ones are the Krasicki family, who leave Lesko with the outbreak of World War II. Throughout all these centuries, the town was inhabited by Poles, Ruthenians, Armenians and Jews, who in 1921 accounted for as much as 60.3% of the population.
However, next to heydays, there are many years of distress. The residents of Lesko struggle with the destructive force of the Tatar invasions, the Swedish deluge and the war occupiers. The population is decimated by the plague and cholera epidemic, and the buildings get consumed by great fires. However, each time Lesko gets up from its knees. And so, at the beginning of the 20th century, another development takes place, during which schools, a town hall, a fire station, hotels, restaurants and shops are built. The oil refinery, canning factory and construction industry are thriving. Unfortunately, the greater part of buildings and enterprises disappear as a result of WWII.
The contemporary Lesko is a dynamically developing town with a population of 5,000 that is the seat of the poviat (county), focusing on the development of local entrepreneurship, mainly in the field of tourist services. It is a town with a future as well as human and economic potential. While exploring its surrounding, its nooks and crannies, you will encounter many architectural and natural peculiarities that have been our showpiece of this region for centuries.
The greatest monuments and attractions of the region:
- Town hall from 1896 in an eclectic style
- Synagogue from the middle of the 17th century
- Jewish cemetery
- Mineral water springs
- War cemetery
- Roman-Catholic Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary - The oldest in the Bieszczady Mountains built in 1539
- an Armenian house from the 18th century
- The Kmita Family Castle
- Leski Stone
- Mountain glider in Bezmiechowa Górna
- Ruins of Sobień Castle
- The oldest wooden church in the Bieszczady Mountains from the 16th century – Średnia Wieś

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