Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Palaces
Białystok
In the 19th century more than a hundred statues disappeared from the gardens of Branicki Palace — reportedly because the nude figures might corrupt the pupils of the tsarist Institute for Young Ladies of Noble Birth that had moved into the…
Churches & monasteries
Kruszyniany
From a distance it looks like one of the two-towered wooden churches typical of the Podlasie region. Only up close do you notice the crescents on the cupolas and the dark green of the walls — the colour of Islam. Kruszyniany Mosque is the…
Churches & monasteries
Bohoniki
The date this mosque was built was only discovered in 2005, when the year 1873 was found written on the entrance door frame during a major renovation. The wooden mosque at Bohoniki, a village near Sokółka in north-eastern Poland, is one of…
Churches & monasteries
Supraśl
The white walls by the River Supraśl hide one of the most important centres of Orthodox Christianity in Poland, and a history that has changed direction several times. The Monastery of the Annunciation was founded by the Lithuanian marshal…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Białystok
St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Białystok is the city's main Orthodox church and the seat of the Białystok–Gdańsk diocese of the Polish Orthodox Church. Its white classical facade, the silhouette of its dome and bell tower, and its fres…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Tykocin
Before World War II, Jews made up roughly half of Tykocin's population — about 2,000 people. On 25–26 August 1941 the Germans murdered about 2,500 people in the nearby Łopuchowo Forest — almost the entire local community. What remains is t…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Białystok
An openwork tower topped by a figure of the Virgin Mary on a crown rises over central Białystok from the hill on Lipowa Street. St Roch's Basilica was built as a church-monument to Poland's regained independence and is one of the key works…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Białystok
The walls and domes of this church are shaped like the tongues of fire that descended on the apostles at Pentecost — hence its dedication. The Church of the Holy Spirit in Białystok's Wysoki Stoczek district is considered the largest Ortho…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Hajnówka
A roof of irregular, interlocking concrete shells makes it look more like a sculpture than a traditional Orthodox church. The Holy Trinity Cathedral in Hajnówka holds about 5,000 worshippers, one of the largest Orthodox churches in Poland,…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Drohiczyn
In the 18th century the regional assemblies of the Podlasie nobility met beneath these vaults; during the Second World War the church was turned into a stable, and later into a shooting range. Today the Baroque Jesuit church above the Bug…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Białystok
In the Wysoki Stoczek district of Białystok stands a church that looks Baroque but is only a little over thirty years old. The Church of the Lord's Resurrection was built in 1991–1996 as an echo of a lost church in Berezwecz, in what is no…
Hidden gemMuseums
Białystok
Białystok's town hall was never home to the city authorities – from the start it was a market hall full of stalls. In 1940 the Soviet authorities demolished it to make room for a statue of Stalin, and today's building is a post-war reconst…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Różanystok
The Różanystok Sanctuary (say “roo-ZHAH-nee-stok”) is a late-Baroque minor basilica and one of the main Catholic pilgrimage sites in Podlasie, Poland's quiet north-eastern corner near the borders with Belarus and Lithuania. Its twin-towere…
Churches & monasteries
Augustów
The two 50-metre towers of the basilica can be seen from far above the rooftops of central Augustów – although they were only rebuilt in 1986, more than forty years after the war. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the town's mos…
Churches & monasteries
Bielsk Podlaski
The oldest painting in the Bielsk basilica is a century and a half older than the church itself: a Crucifixion of 1622, painted as a memorial to Hanna Kadłubowska, wife of the local scribe Stanisław Kulesza. The Church of the Nativity of M…
Churches & monasteries
Białystok
Its crystal-shaped dome is meant to evoke the imagery of the Book of Revelation, and beneath it parishioners spent years pouring foundations and carrying bricks themselves. The Orthodox Church of the Resurrection in Białystok's Leśna Dolin…
Churches & monasteries
Siemiatycze
On the chancel vault you can still see the Lis (Fox) coat of arms of the Sapieha family, who built this church in the 17th century. The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Siemiatycze is the town's oldest and most valuable monum…
Churches & monasteries
Wasilków
The Święta Woda Sanctuary (roughly "SHVYEN-tah VOH-dah", meaning "Holy Water") in Wasilków, just north of Białystok in northeastern Poland, is one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the Podlasie region. A white church of Our Lady of S…
Churches & monasteries
Sejny
The Basilica of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sejny (SAY-nih) is one of only two churches in Poland built in the Vilnius Baroque style, and it is well worth a stop if you are exploring far northeastern Poland. Its twin-tower…
Museums
Białystok
"I was brought up as an idealist; I was taught that all people are brothers," Ludwik Zamenhof wrote years later – while recalling that on the streets of Białystok he saw at every step a division into Poles, Russians, Germans and Jews. The…
Churches & monasteries
Bielsk Podlaski
Beneath the chancel of this wooden church lies its founder, who died more than five hundred years ago. In the 15th century Princess Wassa founded a church at Bielsk castle, and when the church was moved from Castle Hill into the town in 15…
Churches & monasteries
Kruszyniany
Kruszyniany is known for its wooden mosque and Tatar mizar (Muslim cemetery), but the village has been home to several faiths for centuries. On its northern edge, on the road to Łosiniany, St Anne's Orthodox church with its onion dome stan…
Churches & monasteries
Ryboły
With its white brick walls and green domes, the Orthodox church in Ryboły carries a history that predates the 1596 Union of Brest. The present building was consecrated on 22 May 1879, but inside it keeps a much older treasure: the 17th-cen…
Churches & monasteries
Kleszczele
The oldest building in Kleszczele was not built as a church. It is a former wooden bell tower from the 18th century that outlived the church it was built for and became a chapel itself. Poland's National Heritage Board describes it as one…