WERANDA | 2015

Urszula Górska-Iwicka, a highlander, architect, and illustrator from Poronin, recalls how it all began. “As a child, I dreamed of the highland landscape looking as it used to. Cottages made of solid spruce logs, smelling of resin, surrounded by gardens and wooden fences, sometimes a bit crooked, but charming. For the highland villages to look like Witów or Chochołów, for Podhale to be magical and enchanting again, like in the times when Witkiewicz settled here and the bohemians from Krakow came here to ski.”

She has been drawing since she was little. “You see things differently when you take a pencil in your hand,” she laughs. “I always knew I would be an architect.” She was inspired by the beauty and detail of highland architecture by Andrzej Orłowski, a Zakopane architect from whom she learned to draw.

After her studies, there were many plans, but she decided to return to Podhale and realize at least a part of her dream. She designed her Mountain Settlement. At the foot of Galicowa Grapa, at the intersection of roads to Murzasichle and Małe Ciche, she is building successive wooden houses. “It’s a long-term project, more of a lifestyle than a business,” she says. “Here I can design what I love and build in my own way, with natural materials and attention to detail. This often means sitting on the construction site for months because carpentry or carving elements are made on the spot and can’t be changed later.”

TRADITION AND CRAFTSMANSHIP

She designed everything in the settlement herself, every house, table, chair, fairy-tale playground, and garden – a bit wild and natural. In one of the cottages, she lives with her husband and son, while the rest are rented to tourists, who, enchanted, come back year after year for holidays, winter breaks, or just to see the beautiful autumn. Last winter, Villa Gorsky joined the Settlement – larger and more designer. “But of course wooden and highland,” says Urszula. It was built by carpenters from Bańska Niżna, masters for generations. The walls are made of solid pine logs, the roof is spruce shingle, and the floor is larch.

“I love traditional highland construction, the kind with woollen strips between the logs. Many people ask what that is. It’s wood cut into long strips, from which the loggers twist strands and hammer them one by one with a special tool between the logs, arranging them on the sides of the logs in beautiful patterns. Did you know that during the caulking, the house can rise by up to 15 cm?” Urszula asks. “Then it settles, so it’s better to build with small breaks.”

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

Hand-carved beams have an impressive length of 8.5 meters. The beautiful patterns are rosettes, bands, and leaves of the nine-sils. A long time ago, a rosette was placed on the lintel or beam to protect the house from evil spirits.

The building and interior, as well as almost all the furniture, were designed by Urszula Górska-Iwicka. She bought deer antlers from hunter Jan Szpernogi from Jaszczurówka; he also made an antler chair.

The walls are adorned with the owner’s works. She draws with pencil, charcoal, and sanguine not only highland cottages but also highland rituals, folk costumes, and portraits.

In the kitchen, Urszula combined old wood with polished aluminum; spruce boards were provided by Regalia Polska Manufaktura.

Skis from her grandfather made from a single piece of larch. A dresser found at an antique shop. The headboard of the bed is made from faux rabbit fur, in the other bedroom there is mink.

Bathroom furniture is made of spruce wood, its true color is so light. Simple construction goes well with modern ceramics. The table is carved from a single piece of wood, its natural cracks adding charm.

Inside the Villa, the architecture itself is already the decoration. “That’s what’s fascinating,” adds Urszula, “the harmony and beauty of the space resulting from the building’s construction. In such interiors, little is needed to make them furnished.”

HANDCRAFTED BEAUTY

She bought almost nothing here, everything was handmade according to her designs. In the kitchen, old, sunburned spruce boards from Regalia were framed in polished aluminum. In the living room, massive stairs on bent stringers were suspended on a carved beam, also supporting ceiling beams and a walkway to one of the bedrooms. The massive mountain rocks for the fireplace had to be crane-lifted into the living room during construction – recalls the architect. “Massive solid tables were made from trunks nearly a meter in diameter. And spruce chests, shelves, tabletops, and doors were made from brushed wood because it beautifully highlights the grain.”

CHRISTMAS MAGIC IN PODHALE

Snow has already fallen in Podhale and… melted. “But no one is surprised. In June and September, it likes to hail, in October to snow. Then winter can start at any moment. And we are preparing for Christmas,” says the owner. “We make wreaths, decorate Christmas trees, hang a mailbox for Santa Claus, and he beautifully writes to all the children in the settlement. But first, counting down the days with an Advent calendar, sleigh rides, bonfires, and madness on the slopes. When the first star appears, Christmas Eve dinner arrives at each cottage, and there’s nothing left but to look out for Santa Claus. “And our Santa is just like the real thing,” laughs Urszula. He has his own big belly, red nose, and sings wonderfully. Santa’s suit was sewn by highland tailor Andrzej Siekierka. The gold ribbons were imported from the Czech Republic, the beard from England. He looks like he really fell from the sky.”

Highland tradition says you have to go to Midnight Mass. “It’s worth walking to the old wooden churches in Murzasichle or Małe Ciche,” says Urszula. “Or higher in the mountains, to Rusinowa Polana, to the Sanctuary at Wiktorówki. The magic of that night and the violins humming: ‘Oh, little one, little one…’ cannot be forgotten. The highlanders play and sing so beautifully then, like never before. And in the morning you can step out onto the veranda of the Villa and see the panorama of the Tatras – from the Slovak peaks of Havran and Muráň to our Giewont. Isn’t that a wonderful recipe for Christmas?”