8 Kolobrzeska, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Bohoniki and Kruszyniany located in the north of Podlasie, near the border with Belarus, are the only historical centers of Tatar settlement within the Polish borders with preserved historic mosques and mizars. Mosques and mizars (cemeteries) in Bohoniki and Kruszyniany were declared a historical monument in 2012. The mosque in Bohniki dates back to the second half of the 19th century. It was built almost on a square plan and is covered with an envelope roof, and its top is crowned with a small hexagonal tower with a crescent. The interior of the temple is traditionally divided into two parts - the larger room is intended for men, and the smaller one, separated by a wooden partition with a curtain, is dedicated to women. In the main hall there will be a mihrab, a niche in the wall of the mosque, pointing to Mecca, and a mimbar, serving as a pulpit from which the clergyman delivers a sermon - a hutba. On the walls there are numerous ornate fragments of Koranic verses. Just outside the village, on the left side, in a forest grove, there is a Muslim cemetery, i.e. Mizar. The oldest grave with an inscription comes from 1796. The mosque in Kruszyniany is older, bigger and built not on a square but on a rectangular plan. It has two towers and a small minaret. The interior, however, is almost the same as in Bohoniki. There is another mizar near the mosque. The oldest tombstone in Kruszyniany comes here from 1699. The oldest parts of the mizars are characterized by the presence of earthen graves with large boulders placed at their opposite ends. The larger boulder was placed at the head of the deceased, the smaller - at his feet.
