Medzilaborce – Rusyn culture and Carpathian landscape

Medzilaborce combines Rusyn culture, churches and places of remembrance with the landscape of the Laborecká vrchovina. The town lies at the confluence of the Laborec and Vydraňka rivers, below the ridge of the Lower Beskids. This allows you to combine a cultural stay with shorter and longer excursions in the surrounding area.

Rusyn culture and distinctive churches

The open-air museum in Medzilaborce conveys the history of a Rusyn village. It features handcrafted replicas of Rusyn houses from surrounding villages. The visit follows a special format: the open-air museum can only be visited in the company of a staff member. A notable cultural site is the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit. Its unique architecture is considered a landmark of Medzilaborce; the church also contains a composition of 350 icons covering an area of approximately 1,600 square metres. The Greek Catholic Church of Saint Basil the Great is one of the town’s oldest monuments. Services and sacraments are celebrated or administered there in Church Slavonic and Rusyn. The Roman Catholic Church of the Virgin Mary was built in 1903. In front of the Roman Catholic parish church, a Lourdes grotto, solemnly blessed in 2002, also commemorates the religious character of the town.

Trails through forests and the Carpathian landscape

For a hike, the forest educational trail begins in Lesopark Kamjana at the cultural and sports complex on Mierova Street. The route takes approximately three hours and is suitable for individual, family and school educational excursions. The trail reaches 433-metre-high Kameň with the distinctive Čertov kameň rock formation. Another option is the “Vydraňským chotárom” route. It leads through Vydraň, now a district of Medzilaborce, to the Slovak-Polish border ridge. Along the way, views open up over Medzilaborce, the Laborecká vrchovina, the Vihorlat Mountains and the Slanské vrchy. The natural conditions in the area are also suitable for hiking, cycling, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing and other activities. The Eastern Carpathians Protected Landscape Area is headquartered in Medzilaborce and is the easternmost protected landscape area in Slovakia.

History between exhibitions and memorial sites

The “Boje v Karpatoch – Medzilaborce 1914/1915” exhibition at the cultural centre presents the course of the battles in northeastern Slovakia, focusing on Medzilaborce and the wider surrounding area. It covers the battles on the Carpathian Front that took place in Medzilaborce and its surroundings from autumn 1914 to spring 1915, and displays historical uniforms, equipment and weapons of the armies involved. Several war cemeteries and memorials from the First World War are registered in the territory of Medzilaborce. The monument to those who fell in the First and Second World Wars was unveiled on the fifth anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising. A Holocaust memorial, unveiled on 31 July 2008, commemorates another chapter in the town’s history.

Events and planned explorations

The Culture and Sports Festival takes place every year in June in Medzilaborce. In addition, a tourist train is planned to be available at the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art and to travel through Medzilaborce and the immediate surrounding area to various monuments. A journey from Medzilaborce mesto railway and bus station on Mierova Street to Kalinov and back is also planned.

To the overview of the wider travel area: Medzilaborce District.