Krynki
Town’s coordinates
Krynki town, Krynki municipality, Sokolski district, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland, 16-120.
Miasto Krynki, gmina Krynki, Powiat sokólski, Województwo podlaskie, Polska, 16-120.
Latitude – 53.2629451, longitude – 23.7716116.
Point on the Google map
Distance to all other locations of our route in kilometers
Barysaw – 401 km
Zembin – 403 km
Smilavichy – 341 km
Lyubcha – 206 km
Navahrudak –182 km
Izabielin (Padarosk) – 83 km
Orla – 80 km
Bialystok – 47 km
Tykocin – 30 km
Local guides and local historians
Museums
In Sokolka (26 km from Orla) there is the Museum of Sokolska Land (Muzeum Ziemi Sokólskiej). Three permanent thematic expositions are available to visitors: historical, ethnographic and Tatar, as well as a room for temporary expositions.
Phone: +48 69 033-35-90.
Address: ul. Piłsudskiego 2, Sokółka, Powiat sokólski, Województwo podlaskie.
Link: https://muzeumziemisokolskiej.pl
Coordinates: 3.4057771, 23.4946381.
Jewish cult buildings and places of power
Synagogue of the Hasidim from Slonim (synagoga chasydów ze Słonimia). Ul. Czysta, 8. The synagogue was built in the second half of the 19th century on the initiative of Slonim Hasidim, supporters of the tzaddiks of the Weinberg dynasty.
The stone two-story building was erected rectangular in plan. On the west side is a one-story extension, where the women’s gallery was originally located. A Talmudic school, founded in 1903, was located in one of the rooms. In 1880, the synagogue was damaged by fire, but was quickly restored.
After German troops entered Krynki on June 28, 1941, the interior of the synagogue was destroyed. After the end of the Second World War, the building was partially rebuilt and used as a leather warehouse. In 2000, the synagogue was entered into the register of immovable monuments of Poland. Currently, the building is privately owned. The exterior decoration and several characteristic semicircular windows have been partially preserved to this day. Pictures of the Hasidic synagogue from different times can be seen at the link.
Coordinates: 53.2629451, 23.7716116.
Caucasian Synagogue (synagoga Kaukaska). Ul. Piłsudskiego, 5. The synagogue was built in 1850 for local tanners. It was also the central synagogue of a poor Jewish quarter called Caucasus. On June 28, 1941, during the Second World War, the synagogue was closed. On July 1, 1941, the interior was completely gutted and later destroyed by fire.
After the end of the war, the synagogue was in an abandoned state. In 1955, the building was restored and converted into a cinema. At that time, the bimah was dismantled, all the windows of the women’s gallery and part of the windows of the main prayer hall were bricked up. Currently, the synagogue belongs to the Municipal Center of Culture and Sports, which uses it as a hall for festive events and a café.
On one of the walls of the synagogue there is a memorial plaque made at the expense of the “Eternal Memory” fund, which tells about the former purpose of the building in Polish and Hebrew. Photos of the synagogue can be seen here.
Coordinates: 53.26486784, 23.77104488.
Old synagogue (stara synagoga). The wooden synagogue was built in 1756 on Garbarska street in Krynki. It is most likely that the building burned down in the 19th century. A new stone Great Synagogue was built in its place.
Coordinates: 53.263000, 23.774000.
Great Synagogue (Wielka synagoga). Near 5 Garbarska Street (przy ulicy Garbarskiej, 5). The synagogue was built in the 19th century on the site of the old synagogue. During the Second World War, the Germans first used the synagogue as a military warehouse and a tank repair shop, and in 1944 they burned the synagogue and tried to blow up its building. However, the building survived, although without a roof. In 1971, the then authorities decided to finally blow up the synagogue due to the threat of the ruins collapsing. Only the walls of the main hall have survived to our time.
Coordinates: 53.263000, 23.774000.
Jewish cemetery (сmentarz żydowski). The necropolis was founded according to the privilege of King John II Casimir Vasa dated January 12, 1662. About 3,100 gravestones, the oldest of which dates back to 1750, have been preserved to this day in the cemetery with an area of more than 2 hectares. The cemetery is divided into the old part with tombstones of the 17th and 18th centuries and the new part, founded after the expansion of the cemetery in 1840. In the central part of the southern wall, which surrounded the cemetery, there was a wooden entrance gate (not preserved to our time).
Tha matzebot are made of different materials: conglomerate, sandstone, granite and concrete. The most common are simple tombstones, characteristic of Ashkenazi Jewish burials; but there are also matzebot richly decorated with letters.
During the Second World War, the Germans used a significant part of the matzebot for the construction of a local dairy factory. Ohels (structures over the graves of the most respected Jews) were also destroyed. In the western part of the new cemetery, two nameless graves from the time of the Second World War have been preserved to this day.
Coordinates: 53.268333, 23.774444.
You can learn more about the Jewish history of Krynki in Polish at this link, and in Russian here.
Architectural units and other interesting places that can be seen on the way
Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (сerkiew Narodzenia Najświętszej Maryi Panny). Ul. Cerkiewna, 7. The temple was built in 1864 in an eclectic style (neo-Romanesque and Byzantine elements are present) and consecrated on September 8, 1868. The historical iconostasis has been preserved in the interior of the church. The temple was included in the list of monuments on February 18, 2003.
Coordinates: 53.264278, 23.775972.
Catholic Church of St. Anne (kościół katolicki Świętej Anny). Ul. Nowa, 1. The stone church was built in 1907-1912 in the Vistula-Baltic Neo-Gothic style according to the project of the architect Stefan Schiller on the site of the wooden church. On November 30, 1912, the church was consecrated by the administrator of the Vilnius Apostolic Diocese Kazimierz Mikolaj Michalkiewicz. By 1928, the temple was completed. On May 15 of the same year, the building was consecrated by Archbishop Romuald Jalbrzykowski. The interior of the church in the Baroque style was created in the 17th-18th centuries and is partly derived from the previously existing wooden temple.
Coordinates: 53.259444, 23.765000.
Bell gate (dzwonnica bramna). Near the Church of St. Anne on ul. Nowa, 1. In front of the church on the side of the road, there is a bell gate of the 18th century, which is the oldest building in Krynki.
Coordinates: 53.2592978, 23.764422.
Old Catholic cemetery (stary katolicki сmentarz). Near the Church of St. Anne on ul. Nowa, 1.
Coordinates: 53.2590567, 23.764489.
Chapel of St. Anthony the Great (kaplica Świętego Antoniego Wielkiego). At the Orthodox cemetery. The chapel was built in the first half of the 18th century. It was dismantled in 1988, and reconstructed again in 1989-1992. On November 4, 1966, the temple was included in the list of monuments, and then again on April 11, 1996 after reconstruction.
Coordinates: 53.271226, 23.779301.
Transport
The schedule of public transport (buses and trains) to Krynki for the dates you need can be found here.
Food (cafés, shops)
Gospoda pod Modrzewiem
Address: 1 Maja, 4, Krynki, Powiat sokólski, Województwo podlaskie.
Phone: +48 50 407-95-13.
Coordinates: 53.2643652, 23.7728967.
Na Szlaku
Phone: +48 73 448-69-90.
Address: Plac Jagielloński, 2, Krynki, Powiat sokólski, Województwo podlaskie.
Coordinates: 53.264423, 23.7705821.
Rest (hostels, hotels, etc.)
You can choose the best option for rest and book a hotel in Krynki and its surroundings using the links here and here
Zielony Zakątek
Phone: +48 60 528-54-13.
Address: ul. Ostrów Poludniowy, 3, Krynki, Powiat sokólski, Województwo podlaskie.
Coordinates: 53.2594477, 23.675454.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100038068970617
FAZENDA: Przytulne pokoje na krańcu świata
Phone: +48 79 053-64-37.
Address: ul. Grodzieńska, 111, Krynki, Powiat sokólski, Województwo podlaskie.
Coordinates: 53.269872, 23.785544.
(Infrastructural information was prepared by: Victoria Lapanik, Ksenia Tereshkova)
