Tatar Boulder in Malawicze Górne

In Podlachia, some 3 km from Bohoniki, stands a glacial erratic commemorating the Tatar family of Mucha — the last trace of the Tatars who lived in the village of Malawicze Górne. The boulder was placed there in 2006 by Arsłan Mucha, and its surface bears a Polish inscription beginning with the words „In the name of God, the most gracious and most merciful, in homage to the ancestors".

The Tatars of Podlachia

Malawicze appears in documents of John III Sobieski from 1679, when the king granted land to Tatar soldiers in lieu of unpaid pay. Together with Bohoniki and neighbouring villages they formed a settlement that survived for centuries. A mosque once stood here too — unlike the one in Bohoniki it did not survive — and today no Tatar community remains in the village.

Nearby

The boulder lies on the route linking the most important sites of Poland's Tatars. The wooden mosque in Bohoniki is 2.6 km away, while about 28 km off stand the Tatar ensemble in Kruszyniany with its mosque, mizar cemetery and yurt, and Supraśl with its Museum of Icons and monastery. It is also worth visiting Krynki with the church of St. Anne and the Knyszyn Forest Landscape Park.

Curiosity

Not far from the boulder stand the ruins of a burnt wooden windmill, once an ornament of the village. The walk is short and needs no special gear; local county roads sign the drive.