Nowica: Church, Spoon Carving and Quest

Nowica offers several distinct ways to choose it as a travel destination: sacred architecture and art, an outdoor game during a woodland walk, and a locally renowned spoon-making tradition. At the church, architectural and decorative details can be distinguished by material, location and date; the quest features rhyming clues, puzzles and observations of nature. These concrete themes can help you assess which way of experiencing the place best matches your travel interests.

Church of Saint Paraskeva: Architecture and Furnishings

The exterior of the Greek Catholic Church of Saint Paraskeva in Nowica is defined by the use of different materials: shingles cover the walls, while sheet metal covers the roofs and roof turrets. This clearly distinguishes the wall surfaces from the roof elements. Alongside details about the interior, this use of materials offers a concrete way to explore the architecture.

Several interior elements are associated with different dates. The frescoes adorning the church interior date from 1927. The main altar stands at the center of the sanctuary and dates from the 18th century. The comparison provides two chronological reference points: an exact year for the frescoes and a century for the main altar. This makes it possible to consider the wall paintings and the altar as separate elements of the furnishings.

A late Baroque side altar dating from the second half of the 18th century is located in the nave. Its icons depict the Mother of God with the Christ Child and Saint John the Baptist. The location helps distinguish the two altars: the main altar stands at the center of the sanctuary, while the side altar is in the nave. Their dates also have different levels of specificity: the side altar is dated to the second half of the 18th century, and the main altar to the 18th century.

Puzzle Quest Along the Przysłupianka

The quest “Dolina Przysłupianki skarbnicą czystego powietrza” (The Przysłupianka Valley, a Treasure Trove of Fresh Air) is an outdoor game. You read rhyming clues and solve puzzles until you find the final word needed to receive a commemorative stamp. The activity combines moving through the landscape with reading and puzzling; the tasks give the walk a specific game objective. If you enjoy incorporating puzzles into a tour, the quest offers just this combination of clues and a final word.

The route follows a woodland walk along the mountain stream Przysłupianka, where you can discover natural features. The quest thus combines two kinds of attention: the rhyming clues call for careful reading, while the route draws your attention to nature along the stream. Check the current condition of the quest route before setting out.

Spoon Carving as a Craft Tradition

Nowica is known in the region for making spoons and carving them. This makes a local craft another subject for your trip, alongside sacred art and architecture. Making and carving place the emphasis on different things: one focuses on the finished object, the other on the craft of shaping it. For travelers interested in crafts as well as sacred furnishings, this offers a different cultural point of connection: the focus is neither a building nor an altar, but the making of an everyday object.

Discover more destinations: Klimkówka, Gładyszów, Ropa, Uście Gorlickie, Kwiatonowice, Bobowa, Stróżówka, Strzeszyn.

For the broader travel overview: Gorlice.