Ustrzyki Dolne

Ustrzyki Dolne is a popular resort in Bieszczady Mountains. Its unique microclimate, numerous ski lifts and clear mountain air make the town a perfect destination for a holiday. Ustrzyki Dolne is attractive for both skiing lovers and hiking enthusiasts.

Ustrzyki Dolne TOURISM

Ustrzyki Dolne is a popular Polish winter resort. Due to a great number of ski centres in its neighbourhood, Ustrzyki is often called a winter capital of the Supcarpathian Voivodeship. A few kilometres from the town’s centre there are ski centres Gromadzyn and Laworta, ski lifts on Maly Krol and cross-country ski trails on Zukow Mountain.
Ustrzyki Dolne attracts tourists not only in winter. In the rest of the year you can sightsee here (the most famous monuments in the town are: neo-Gothic church of St. Mary the Queen of Poland from the early 20th century, brick Greek-Catholic Orthodox church from 1874, the building of a former synagogue from around 1870 as well as the old Jewish cemetery from the 18th century) and walk on the town’s numerous trails (there are five walking trails: blue, red, yellow, green and black and one blue foot trail in Ustrzyki).
A special attraction of the town is the Museum of Bieszczady Mountains National Park, which was built in the early 1970s. It is one of the biggest museums in Poland.

GEOGRAPHY

Ustrzyki Dolne is a town and seat of the Bieszczady County in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, situated by the Strwiaz river. It lies at the altitude of approximately 480 metres above sea level, on the routes of the Small and Great Bieszczady Loops.
Ustrzyki Dolne has the population of approximately 10.150.

HISTORY

Originally Ustrzyki Dolne was called Ustryk (from the Old Polish words: US, i.e. estuary and RZYK, i.e. river). The village’s founders were the Unihowski family, who later named themselves Ustrzycki. In their hands the village remained until the mid 18th century; later it was owned by the Mniszek family, in the 19th century by the Piaseckis and Laskowskis and in the 20th century by the Nanowskis.
In 1727 Augustus II the Strong gave Ustrzyki town rights. In August 1769 in the town’s neighbourhood there were fights between Russian troops and Bar Confederates.
During the First World War there were fights between Russian and Austrian troops in Ustrzyki. As a result of these fights many Polish proponents of Austria were sent to prisons or to Siberia. In 1914/1915 the battlefront passed the terrains twice, destroying them.
On 29 September 1939 the town was taken by the Red Army and already on 1 November the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union passed an act on joining these terrains to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Full of repressions and deportations to Siberia Soviet occupation lasted in Ustrzyki until 27 June 1941. Two days later Ustrzyki Dolne were taken by Slovakian troops and fund itself under German occupation. Germans shot many Jews and Gypsies in gates of Ustrzyki’s tenements. During the occupation Ustrzyki Dolne lost its town rights.
On 18 September 1944, after battles with Germans, Soviet troops entered the town. Many Poles were arrested and sent to Siberia. After the WW2 the town was annexed to the Soviet Union; however, already in 1951, on the basis of Polish-Soviet border adjustment treaty, it was rejoined to Poland.