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The region of the Beskid Niski and Bieszczady mountains, situated in the eastern part of the Polish Carpathians, was settled by diversified ethnic character groups of an agricultural-pastoral type of activity from 15th century. This settlement was penetrating westward from the territory of the present-day Romania along the Carpathians and this complex ethnic substrate gave an origin to the Bojko people living in the Bieszczady Mts. and the Lemko people living in the Beskid Niski Mountains.
Apart from agricultural-pastoral type of activity they used stone deposits establishing many small quarries on local outcrops. The most famous mason centres were located in Beskid Niski Mts. (area of Bartne, Krempna and Jasliska villages) and have the Lemko origin while the scale of local sandstone usage by the Bojko was much seldom.
The local stone works of art are very important for preserving the ethnic culture for posterity, especially that many of ethnic groups have been vanished already like the Bojko. Their culture is known only thanks to ethnographic works, university studies and open-air ethnographic museums. The culture of the Lemko is also vanishing at the moment and their masonry collapsed among other because of earlier stone sources protection as natural reserves and national parks.
The geology of both Carpathians ranges is connected with the Magura, Silesia and Dukla Units.They are built up by typical flysch deposits whose the main components are diverse types of sandstones usually observed on the surface as picturesque crags.
The physical properties of sandstone have been well enough to use the rock as a mason material. To prove that objects of small architecture are made from local sandstone microscopic examinations have been carried out. Thin sections of sandstone from selected outcrops have been compared with those becoming from objects of small architecture.
Research findings enable to join together information about geology of investigated area, petrographic data of different types of sandstone used in ethnic small architecture and historical review of the Bojko and the Lemko ethnic groups. Comprehensive description of investigated ethnic works of art will be possible with the aim of creation of geotourist site.
The work was financed by AGH University, the Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection grant No. 10.10.140.569.
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