Pearls of the Lublin region, part 2

The Lublin region is beautiful, green, often still uninhabited, but among the fields and forests you can find real architectural gems. Today we are taking you on a journey along the eastern wall of Poland, where you will find not only interesting sacred buildings, but also Renaissance palaces and towns that are a true mixture of cultures and religions that intertwined in these areas in the past. 
 
Janów Podlaski – not only a horse farm 
 
Janów Podlaski is a town located literally a few kilometers from the Bug, which is the border with Belarus. It is mainly associated with the famous Arabian horse stud. The figure of Adam Naruszewicz is also associated with Janów, who as the bishop of Łuck spent the last years of his life here, died in 1796 and was buried in the crypt of the Holy Trinity collegiate church. Local tradition says that in Janów he wrote theses for the Constitution of May 3. Janów’s development was favored by its location on important communication routes: the land route from Kraków to Vilnius and the water route leading to Gdańsk. Important places that must be visited include the Church of St. John the Baptist with a belfry in the Byzantine style from 1790, the Bishop’s Castle built in 1770-1780 (today there is a hotel and restaurant here) and the Horse Stable – where, apart from pure Arabian horses, you can admire the historic stables by Henryk Marconi.

Międzyrzec Podlaski – orient in the Lublin region. 
 
The city, inhabited mainly by the Jewish community in the past, is located on the historic route from Brest to Lesser Poland and was famous for salt and beer breweries and the Szczecin industry. The testimony of bygone times is the market buildings characteristic of the Oriental cities with narrow passages – streets under brick arched buttresses. The oldest monument in the city is the church of st. Nicholas. Originally built as a gothic one in 1477, it was rebuilt in the baroque style after a fire in 1752. It is also worth visiting the Church of st. Joseph, where in the interior you can admire three rococo paintings from the end of the 18th century and the Church of st. st. Piotr and Paweł founded by prince A. Czartoryski in 1774 for the Uniates. After visiting the facilities, it is worth taking a walk around the pitch established in the 18th century. There is a neo-Gothic turret from 1840, buildings of the former stables and coach house, fragments of the palace and the chapel of St. Florian from 1777. 
 
Radzyń Podlaski – a Renaissance palace 
 
This city is famous in the region for the largest palace and park complex, erected in the middle of the Eighteenth century by Marshal Eustachy Potocki. The scale of the establishment and the architectural decoration of the palace, orangery and gates represent the highest craftsmanship of the architects and sculptors of the Rococo era: Fontana, Redler, Plersch and Lapen. Opposite the palace complex there is the parish church of Holy Trinity from the first half of the 17th century, in the style of the Lublin Renaissance. In the chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary, you can see the tombstone of the founders – the Mniszch family. Next to the church there is a bell tower from the 18th century, designed by J. Fontana.

Parczew – on the royal trail 
 
The Minor Basilica in Parczew is the most famous monument, located in the Roman Catholic parish of St. John the Baptist. This neo-Gothic church with two characteristic towers consists of a chancel, three naves, sacristy, treasury and two side chapels. There are 5 wooden altars in the temple in Parczew. The interior of the church is decorated with a beautiful polychrome and magnificent stained glass windows, including: St. Antoni from 1939 and a stained glass window showing the Assumption of the Virgin Mary from 1937. The most valuable monuments belonging to the church in Parczew include: a chasuble with a biblical motif from the 16th century, sewn by the first wife of Sigismund Augustus, Elizabeth of Habsburg, and a classicist monstrance from 1788. 
 
In turn, the wooden belfry is the oldest preserved monument in Parczewo. It was erected in 1675 and has a unique wooden frame and column structure and a shingled roof. The only way of the Cross in Europe was built in front of the church, in which individual stations are in the form of stone sculptures recreating the events of the last days of Christ’s life. 
 
It is also worth taking a walk around the city itself, which has preserved its original medieval layout to this day, and nature lovers are recommended the “Królowa Droga” nature reserve, whose name comes from the route connecting Vilnius and Lublin, which used to be used by royal retinue.