Attractions and Places To See around gmina Konstantynów - Top 20

Before organizing your route, be sure to check the ferry times and ticket prices: https://podlasie.siematycze.pl/83-siematycze-przeprawa-promowa-mielnik-zabuze It's worth having cash with you.

The Orthodox Church of the Icon of Our Lady of All Sorrows Joy in Koterka is located in a remote area surrounded by forest, approx. 1.5 km south of the village centre. An interesting story is connected with the construction of the church. According to it, on 19 May 1852, a woman appeared to a resident of these areas - Eufrozyna Iwaszczuk - ordering a prayer of atonement. In 1855, when an epidemic of plague air broke out, the Mother of God ordered Eufrozyna that the priest and the parishioners should pray for God's mercy. After this event, the parish priest - Szymon Budziłowicz decided to erect a cross at the site of the apparition. The area quickly became a popular place spontaneously visited by pilgrims, who miraculously experienced healing there. Later, a spring appeared in the place of the cross, and with it pilgrimages and further healings. In 1906, permission was obtained to build the church. On July 29, 1912, the church was consecrated. During its construction, many healings occurred. During World War I, the bells were removed from the church, which were taken down by the Germans, and the entire clergy were evacuated to Russia. During this period, the entire fence was also destroyed, as well as liturgical vestments, banners and candlesticks. A new fence was erected in 1925, while three new bells were acquired in 1931. The church is a building built on a cross plan, with a narrower chancel closed on three sides and two rectangular sacristies. The church is oriented, has a single-space interior layout divided into three parts. Next to the church there is a well over a spring in the form of a hexagonal arbor. Renovation and conservation works were carried out in 1996. In the summer of 2012, the church in Koterka celebrated the important ceremony of the 100th anniversary of the consecration of the church. The jubilee was celebrated with great pomp by the parishioners, but also by the inhabitants of the entire Mielnik commune and the surrounding area. On this occasion, a polychrome was also made inside the church, designed and executed by Jarosław Wiszenko. To this day, the church and the miraculous icon located in it are a place of pilgrimage for Orthodox believers.

The Mielnik Land History Centre – Museum in Mielnik is engaged in the popularization and dissemination of the history of the Mielnik Land. Throughout the year, souvenirs, photographs, ethnographic monuments and other exhibits are collected, which are a memento of people living in the Mielnik Commune. Therefore, in addition to exhibitions of paintings, photographs and other arts, local exhibitions related to the life and activities of the Mielnik residents are also organized. Work is also carried out on finding interesting historical sources regarding the history of Mielnik and the surrounding area, as well as interviews with the oldest residents of the Mielnik Commune, which are later recorded and stored in the ODZM. The ODZM – Museum also houses the Tourist Information Point.

As late as 1820, the streets of Janów were completely devoid of cobblestones (Historical and topographical-statistical description of the town of Janów from 1820 "). In 1837, a new road was built connecting the stud farm in Wygoda with the town, in 1850 Brzeska and Siedlecka streets were paved, in which on its section from the Market Square to the current Sienkiewicza Street not only the course of the street was corrected, but also the terrain was leveled in order to eliminate the ravine separating the town buildings from the seminary garden. The general development plan of Janów from the years 1807-1866 confirms the information about minor changes in the development and spatial structure of the town.

An important element of the historic spatial layout of the stud farm is the composed greenery: park, alleys, rows, naturalistic tufted greenery accompanying the paddocks and the old flood embankments (including mature oaks - natural monuments). The attribute of the monument is also the preserved original view relations with the panorama of Janów Podlaski and the excellent exposure of the stud farm silhouette in the Bug riverine landscape. https://zabytek.pl/pl/obiekty/janow-podlaski-janow-podlaski-stadnina-koni

After the war, Janów Podlaski grew into the world's leading center for breeding Arabian horses, which is confirmed by numerous awards won at prestigious shows and high prices for horses sold. In 1981, at an auction in Janów Podlaski, the stallion El Paso achieved a price of 1 million dollars, and in 1985, at an auction organized in the USA, the mare Penicylina z Janów was sold for 1.5 million dollars. In 2015, the mare Pepita was auctioned in Janów Podlaski for 1.4 million euros.

During the Second Polish Republic, the stud farm in Janów Podlaski was recreated, and the horses from it were used for mass breeding for the needs of the Polish cavalry. During World War II, the Germans evacuated the horses to the vicinity of Cologne, from where they returned to Poland in 1946, and from 1950, several dozen of them found themselves again in Janów, where the destroyed stables were rebuilt.

The stud farm in Janów Podlaski, currently owned by the Agricultural Property Agency, was the first state horse breeding farm on Polish soil. It was established in 1817 by the Administrative Council of the Kingdom of Poland with the task of rebuilding the herd of good-bred horses, decimated during the Napoleonic Wars. Until the outbreak of World War I, the stud farm was managed by Tsarist officials. In 1914, the horses from the Janów stud farm were taken deep into Russia.