Tatar Muslim Cemetery (Mizar) in Kruszyniany

Not far from the green wooden mosque, in a pine grove on the edge of Kruszyniany, lies one of only a handful of working Muslim cemeteries in Poland. The mizar of the Polish Tatars is more than three hundred years old and still receives burials from the local community. Stone gravestones with crescents and inscriptions in Arabic and Polish tell the story of people who served the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for centuries without giving up Islam.

History: a Tatar settlement granted by the king

The Tatars settled in Kruszyniany after a privilege issued by King John III Sobieski on 12 March 1679, which granted them land in return for military service. Among the settlers was Colonel Samuel Murza Krzeczowski, who according to tradition saved the king's life at the Battle of Parkany. The mizar was most likely founded at the end of the 17th century. According to a publication by the Muslim Religious Union in Poland (MZR), the oldest gravestone found dates from 1696, and the oldest legible inscription from 1699; the lettering on earlier stones has worn away.

Before the Second World War there were more than 30 Muslim cemeteries within Poland's borders. Today, according to the MZR, there are seven, and only three are still in use: in Kruszyniany, Bohoniki and Warsaw. A decree of 2012 declared the mosques and mizars of Kruszyniany and Bohoniki jointly a Monument of History, Poland's highest heritage designation. On the night of 28–29 June 2014 the cemetery and mosque were desecrated by vandals.

What to look for

• The layout of the graves – graves were traditionally dug on an east–west axis, in neat rows, mirroring the way worshippers line up for prayer in a mosque.
• Upright stone slabs at the head of the grave – a form that became established among the Commonwealth's Tatars in the 18th century.
• 19th-century obelisks, columns and prisms – richly decorated, though foreign to older Muslim traditions; a sign of local funerary art seeping in.
• The stone wall enclosing the 0.6-hectare cemetery.
• Inscriptions and crescents – in Arabic script on the oldest stones, and also in Polish on newer ones.

Tripto tip

The mizar is a working cemetery, so keep quiet, do not step on graves and do not sit on headstones. Combine your visit with the 18th-century mosque: according to its custodians it can be visited from May to the end of September, 9:00–19:00, and in other months by phoning ahead to arrange a guide. Admission is PLN 15 (children and school students PLN 10); inside you must take off your shoes and photography is not allowed. Allow about an hour for the mizar and mosque together. From Białystok it is 56 km via Supraśl and Krynki, right through the Knyszyn Forest. The village is close to the Belarusian border, so check for any restrictions in the border zone before you set off. The other half of the Monument of History, the mosque and mizar in Bohoniki, fits easily into the same day.