Tatar Boulder in Malawicze Górne

At the source of the Łosośna river, in the village of Malawicze Górne near Sokółka, lies a boulder crowned with an Islamic crescent. It was funded by Arsłan Mucha to commemorate the Tatar Mucha family, for whom – as the carved inscription says – the land of Malawicze was their homeland "for centuries". It is one of the quietest and most personal stops on Podlasie's Tatar Trail.

History: a village granted by Sobieski

In 1679 Tatars settled in Malawicze Górne, having received land here from King John III Sobieski for their military service and loyalty to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. They built a wooden mosque – its existence is confirmed by a visitation of the Sokółka parish in 1717 – and for a time, alongside Kruszyniany and Bohoniki, this was the largest Tatar village in the area.

The following centuries brought repression. After the November Uprising of 1830–31, the Russian imperial authorities confiscated the Malawicze Tatars' estates and deported them – by 1848 only 19 Tatars lived here. In 1915 they all left for the interior of Russia during the wartime evacuation known as bieżeństwo, returning only after the revolution. The 1921 census recorded 12 Muslims in the village, whose religious life centred on the mosque in Bohoniki, about 3 km away. The Malawicze mosque did not survive.

What to see

• The boulder with a crescent and the engraved basmala in Arabic – the formula "In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful" that opens almost every sura of the Quran.
• A Polish inscription beginning with words that dedicate the stone in God's name "in tribute to our ancestors and in memory for our descendants" – a rare example of a family memorial of the Polish Tatars.
• Near the village, the ruins of a burnt-out post mill.

A linguistic curiosity

The former inhabitants of Malawicze Górne – Muslims and Catholics alike – spoke a Belarusian dialect in everyday life, which they called "the simple language". Compared with neighbouring villages, it showed stronger Polish influence, linked to the noble origins of some of the residents. Today the dialect is on the verge of extinction. The village was also the birthplace of Stefan Mustafa Jasiński (1911–2015), imam of the Muslim community in Białystok.

Tripto tip

You can see the boulder itself in a quarter of an hour, but it makes a good point on a tour of the Tatar Trail: Białystok – Supraśl – Krynki – Kruszyniany – Bohoniki – Malawicze Górne – Sokółka. Combine it with the mosque in Bohoniki, about 3 km away. Treat the site with respect – it is a family memorial, not something to climb on.