Bohoniki Mosque

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 only a few active mosques in the country and a unique example of wooden Islamic architecture on a national scale. Together with the nearby mizar, the Muslim cemetery, it has been a national Monument of History since 2012.

History: King Sobieski's Tatars

Tatars have lived around Bohoniki since the 17th century. They are Lipka Tatars, Muslims who served in the armies of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. King John III Sobieski granted this village and nearby Kruszyniany to his Tatar soldiers as compensation for unpaid wages. The settlers' first mosque probably stood by the cemetery in the eastern part of the village; after it burned down, the present building was put up in the second half of the 19th century. During the Second World War the Germans vandalised the mosque and used it as a field hospital, and it was damaged by an exploding shell. After the war the conservation authorities refused permission to enlarge it, which is why it has kept its original form. In 2003 the tin roof was replaced with wooden shingles, and in 2005 a full renovation was carried out using natural materials.

What to see

• The building itself — a simple log structure measuring 11.49 × 8.03 m, with a hipped shingle roof. Instead of a minaret it has a hexagonal turret with an onion dome of copper sheet, topped with three balls and a gilded crescent.
• The interior, divided into a men's section and a smaller women's section, separated by a wooden partition with a slit covered by fabric through which the women follow the prayers.
• The mihrab, a niche in the south-east-facing wall indicating the direction of Mecca, and the minbar, the pulpit used for Friday prayers.
• The muhirs — decorative panels with verses of the Koran in Arabic, hung on walls painted with a vine motif. In keeping with Islamic tradition, there are no images of people.
• The mizar in the eastern part of the village, probably in use since the 18th or even the 17th century, where Arabic inscriptions sit beside Polish surnames on the gravestones.

Interesting facts

In the 1990s the imam at Bohoniki was Stefan Mustafa Jasiński from nearby Malawicze Górne, who died in 2015 as the oldest Muslim cleric in Poland. Friday midday prayers are held here once a month. The mosque lies on the Tatar Trail and, together with the mosque at Kruszyniany, is one of two Muslim places of worship on the route. The 44-are plot is planted with limes, maples and poplars, and the semicircular gate aligned with the entrance always stands open.

Tripto tip

This is an active place of prayer, so take your shoes off in the entrance hall and dress modestly. Visiting times depend on prayers and are not published on a fixed basis — it is best to contact the Muslim Religious Community in Bohoniki in advance. Allow about an hour for the mosque and the cemetery. Bohoniki is a few kilometres from Sokółka, and a trip along the Tatar Trail pairs well with the mosque and mizar at Kruszyniany.