Bohoniki ( Polish Arabic: بوـحـونيكي) is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the administrative district of Gmina Sokółka, within Sokółka County,

Podlaskie Voivodeship Podlaskie Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship in northeastern Poland. The name of the voivodeship refers to the historical region of Podlachia (in Polish, ''Podlasie''), and significant part of its territory corresponds to th ...

, in north-eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, close to the border with

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. It lies approximately east of Sokółka and north-east of the regional capital

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

Demographics

Bohoniki was primarily a Lipka Tatar settlement. According to the 1921 census, the village had a population of 208, of which 99.5% declared Polish nationality, 84.1% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and 12.5% Muslim by confession. Today, still a few families in the village are Tatars and practicing

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s. Although residents don't speak their native Tatar language (often written in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

Arabic alphabet The Arabic alphabet, or the Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as specifically codified for writing the Arabic language. It is a unicase, unicameral script written from right-to-left in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters, of which most ...

), they have close ties to Lipka Tatar and Islamic traditions.

Sights

Sites of interest in the village include a 19th-century

wooden mosque The Wooden Mosque () is a mosque situated south-east of the city of Nishapur, Iran. This mosque is built completely of wood. Features Its construction, completed in two years, utilized 40 tons of wood. Gallery File:Wooden Village, Nishap ...

and a Muslim cemetery, both named Historic Monuments of Poland ('' Pomnik historii''), as designated November 20, 2012. Its listing is maintained by the National Heritage Board of Poland.

Gallery

Bohoniki meczet sciana modlitewna.jpg, Mosque interior File:Cmentarz muzułmański Bohoniki.jpg, Cemetery entrance File:Cmentarz muzułmański w Bohonikach.jpg, Muslim Lipka Tatar cemetery sign File:Bohoniki cmentarz muzulmanski 03.jpg, Cemetery File:Cmentarz w Bohonikach groby wspolczesne.jpg, Cemetery Bohoniki kamień pamiątkowy 01.jpg, Monument commemorating the settlement of the Tatars in Bohoniki by King John III Sobieski

References

Lipka Tatar communities Lipka Tatars of Poland Villages in Sokółka County Islam in Poland {{Sokółka-geo-stub