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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…
Landmarks
Krynki
In 1897 nearly 85% of Krynki's five thousand inhabitants were Jewish, and what remains of that community today is above all a hill on the northern edge of town. The cemetery on Zaułek Zagumienny Street covers about 2.5 ha, and in the late…
Landmarks
Białystok
On busy Jana Pawła II Avenue, at No. 62, stands a small Neoclassical rotunda with a domed roof and a columned portico that locals call Napoleon's House (Domek Napoleona). The name comes from a romantic legend – in reality it was a customs…
Historic sites
Krynki
For decades films were shown here in the "Malwa" cinema, while bricked-up windows hid the old prayer hall. The Caucasian Synagogue in Krynki (the Kaukaski Beit Midrash) is a brick synagogue built around 1850 for Jewish tanners, a few steps…
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…
Museums
Wasilków
On almost 30 hectares in Wasilków, just beyond Białystok's northern city limits, stands a village made up of buildings moved here from all over Podlasie: windmills, a watermill, a smithy, cottages of the minor gentry and a Neoclassical man…
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…
Other
Białystok
Right next to Kościuszko Market Square, a stretch of pavement in Białystok turns into a guide to the history of Polish blues. The slabs of Blues Alley (Aleja Bluesa) carry the names of people who played, recorded and championed the genre –…
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…
Nature
Goniądz
Goniądz stands on a high escarpment, and below it lies the Biebrza valley – one of the largest wetlands in Central Europe. Walk down from the market square to the river and onto the bridge, and you see meanders, reed beds and meadows stret…
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
Bielsk Podlaski
Set into the foundation of the south wall of this blue wooden church is a boulder carved with the date AD 1789 — the foundation stone of the present building. St Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church, known as the Old Sobor, stands at ul.…
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…
Churches & monasteries
Siemiatycze
On a rise above the Muchawiec stream, behind a stone wall with an ornate gate, stands a church with seven domes. This is the oldest Orthodox parish in Siemiatycze, dating back to the 15th century, while the present brick church was built i…
Churches & monasteries
Puchły
The Orthodox Church of the Protection of the Mother of God in Puchły (say "POOH-hwih") is one of the most photogenic wooden churches in Poland. Painted a vivid blue and topped with a cluster of onion domes, it stands in a tiny village in t…
Churches & monasteries
Trześcianka
The green wooden Orthodox church of St Michael the Archangel, with a bulbous dome above the entrance and an onion-domed turret over the nave, is the best-known building in Trześcianka, one of the three villages on the Land of Open Shutters…
Churches & monasteries
Juchnowiec Kościelny
The small Orthodox Chapel of St Michael the Archangel in Wojszki has a surprising pedigree: it was funded in 1865 by the Governor-General of Vilnius, Mikhail Muravyov, nicknamed "the Hangman" for his brutal repression after the January Upr…
Churches & monasteries
Kleszczele
This white Orthodox church with blue onion domes in the centre of Kleszczele stands on the site of a former Catholic church and was partly built from its timber. The Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God was consecrated in 1877, and…