Kodeń is a village in eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

on the

Bug River uk, Західний Буг be, Захо́дні Буг , name_etymology = , image = Wyszkow_Bug.jpg , image_size = 250 , image_caption = Bug River in the vicinity of Wyszków, Poland , map = Vi ...

, which forms the border between Poland and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. Administratively, it belongs to Biała Podlaska County in

Lublin Voivodeship The Lublin Voivodeship, also known as the Lublin Province ( Polish: ''województwo lubelskie'' ), is a voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in southeastern part of the country. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin, C ...

. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Kodeń. It has approximately 1,900 inhabitants (as at 2006). It lies approximately south-east of Biała Podlaska and north-east of the regional capital Lublin. The village is the site of a famous

Marian shrine A shrine to the Virgin Mary (or Marian shrine) is a shrine marking an apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Marian devotion. Such locales are often the destinatio ...

History

The first written mention comes from the 16th century, stating a settlement existed at the same site a century earlier. The settlement was purchased by Jan Sapieha, who fortified it and in 1511 established a town of

Magdeburg law Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...

. In 1513, Jan Sapieha became

voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the ...

of the new founded Lithuanian voivodeship of

Podlaskie Podlaskie Voivodeship or Podlasie Province ( pl, Województwo podlaskie, ) is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. The name of the province and its territory correspond to the historic region of Podlachia. The capital and largest ci ...

. In 1569, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania merged with Poland by the

Union of Lublin The Union of Lublin ( pl, Unia lubelska; lt, Liublino unija) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the per ...

, and by the

Union of Brest The Union of Brest (; ; ; ) was the 1595–96 decision of the Ruthenian Orthodox Church eparchies (dioceses) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to break relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church and to enter into communion with, and place i ...

of 1596, the Orthodox church of Lithuania acknowledged the authority of the pope, that way becoming “Uniate” or

Greek Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...

. With the

Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...

in 1793, Kodeń came under Austrian rule. During

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's French hegemony, it became part of the

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw ( pl, Księstwo Warszawskie, french: Duché de Varsovie, german: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during ...

. That way, by the decisions of the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

, it was a place in Congress Poland since 1815, under

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

rule for first in

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...

, after 1831 as a part of Russia. In 1869 the town was stripped of its city rights. After the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, it lay in the disputed area between the establishing Second Polish Republic and the

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...

, proclaimed in January 1918, but also claimed by

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. With the

Peace of Riga The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga ( pl, Traktat Ryski), was signed in Riga on 18 March 1921, among Poland, Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish–Soviet Wa ...

in 1921, Kodeń definitively became part of the Polish Republic. During German occupation in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, it lay in the General Government. Most of the Jewish population in Kodeń (pronounced "KUD-na" by the Jewish people) was wiped out by the Nazi's in WWII, the Jewish cemeteries were used to create roads for Nazi vehicles.

Points of interest

Our Lady of Kodeń in St-Anne Basilica

In the 17th century the fourth owner of Kodeń, Mikołaj Sapieha, returned to his home town with a painted

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

portraying the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

statue of

Our Lady of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe ( es, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe ( es, Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions, which are believed t ...

, said to have been painted by Archbishop Augustine of Canterbury at the request of then- Pope Gregory. It was placed in Saint-Anne's Catholic parish Church, built 1629–1635. According to local

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

, Sapieha stole the image from Pope Urban VIII in 1630 and was subsequently

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

. However, afterwards the pope lifted the excommunication and gave the icon along with many relics to the

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

in Kodeń in recognition of Sapieha's efforts in opposing the proposed marriage of King

Władysław IV Vasa Władysław IV Vasa; lt, Vladislovas Vaza; sv, Vladislav IV av Polen; rus, Владислав IV Ваза, r=Vladislav IV Vaza; la, Ladislaus IV Vasa or Ladislaus IV of Poland (9 June 1595 – 20 May 1648) was King of Poland, Grand Duke of ...

and Princess Elisabeth of the Palatinate. There are no documents confirming those events and most likely the icon was simply purchased during a pilgrimage to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The icon was crowned in 1723 by the bishop Stefan Rupniewski with crowns conferred by Pope

Innocent XIII Pope Innocent XIII ( la, Innocentius XIII; it, Innocenzo XIII; 13 May 1655 – 7 March 1724), born as Michelangelo dei Conti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 May 1721 to his death in March 1724. He is ...

. Under Russian rule, with the liquidation of the

on 6 May 1875, Saint Anne's Church was converted to Orthodox denomination, and Catholic clergy took the icon to Poland's greatest Marian shrine in

Jasna Góra Jasna may refer to: Places * Jasna, a village in Poland * Jasná, a village and ski resort in Slovakia Other uses * Jasna (given name), a Slavic female given name * JASNA, the Jane Austen Society of North America See also * Yasna Yasna (;

. In 1905, following a weakening of the Russian rule, the church was returned to Catholicism. After Poland had regained independence in 1919, the parish was reestablished. In 1927

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, ...

settled in Kodeń and restored the church, and the icon was returned after 52 years. In 1973, the church of St. Anne was granted the status of a

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

by Pope Paul VI. Zespół zamkowy (Kodeń) 02.JPG, Catholic Church of the Holy Ghost, originally Orthodox Kodeń_church2.JPG, St-Anne's Basilica Matka-boza-kodenska.jpg, Mother of God of Kodeń Koden-Saint-Michael-Archangel-orthodox-church.jpg, present Orthodox St-Michael's Church

Church of the Holy Ghost

The Church of the Holy Ghost, built in 1530 as the chapel of Sapieha Palace, is an example of Belarusian Gothic, a style comprising elements of Gothic and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

. Originally it was Orthodox, since 1596

, but in the 1960s it was adopted as a filial church of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

parish.

Other sites

Koden-080413-446.jpg, Gable of the ancient Uniate St-Michael's Church Koden-palacyk-Placencja.jpg, Placencja Palace *Ruins of Sapieha Palace near the Church of the Holy Ghost *Placencja Palace, summer residence of the Sapiehas from 18th century *Cemetery chapel of St. Laurence (1683–1685) *''"Brama Unicka" ("Uniate Gate"), the western gable of the

Uniate The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of t ...

ancient Saint-Michael's Church, burnt down in the 19th centuryHistory of "Brama Unicka", in Polish
/ref> *Orthodox new Saint-Michael's Church (1910), today the only church for eastern worship in Kodeń *Calvary with sculptures by Tadeusz Niewiadomski, reminding World War II *Jewish cemetery

References

External links

*
Sanktuarium M.B. Kodeń
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koden Villages in Biała Podlaska County Brest Litovsk Voivodeship Siedlce Governorate Kholm Governorate Lublin Voivodeship (1919–1939) Belarus–Poland border crossings