The best dog-friendly hikes and walks in Lublin Voivodeship

You can see the entire area around Szczebrzeszyn and the surrounding villages.

The Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God in Szczebrzeszyn is a unique religious monument – the oldest building belonging to the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The temple has a turbulent history: from a Catholic church, through a Calvinist congregation, a Uniate church, to an Orthodox church. After years of abandonment, it was restored, and during the works, 17th-century wall paintings were uncovered and the iconostasis was recreated. The church on Sądowa Street is worth visiting, especially if you are interested in the history of religious denominations and architecture.

The Jewish cemetery in Szczebrzeszyn is one of the oldest burial sites of Jews in Poland, with documented gravestones dating back to 1545. Situated on a hill on Cmentarna Street, it is distinguished by a large number of preserved matzevot, including unique 16th-century tombstones. During World War II, it was a place of execution, and today it commemorates the victims of the Holocaust and the city's Jewish community. Thanks to the involvement of various organizations and volunteers, the cemetery has been tidied up and fenced.

The best way to get there is by national route no. 74 near Szczebrzeszyn at km 244 there is a turnoff by the road that looks like a roadside parking lot with no description, there is also an information board with a bicycle route. We left the car there and went to the other side and walked along a dirt road between fields for about 0.5 km and a path to the forest appears and there begins one of the three ravines. You can get to the other ravines from the direction of Szczebrzeszyn.

A good place to relax - there is a cafe there - hot, cold drinks and something sweet. P.S. there are telescopes on the tower 🆓 👍🏻😂

Being in Szczebrzeszyn and not taking a photo with a beetle is a sin

near the cemetery there is a nice asphalt road through a loess gorge

The building in its current form was erected in the 16th century, on the foundations of an older temple. This earlier temple may have been the first Catholic church of St. Nicholas, which was founded around 1394 by Dymitr z Goraj, the then owner of Szczebrzeszyn. Andrzej Górka probably took over the church from the Catholics and transformed it into a Calvinist church. The small number of Protestants did not need such a large religious building for use and the Górkas transferred it to the Orthodox believers. At the same time, Andrzej and Stanisław Górka donated funds for the reconstruction of the temple[2]. For the first few decades of its operation, it was an Orthodox church, after 1596 it accepted the union. It remained in the jurisdiction of the Chełm diocese until its liquidation, carried out by the tsarist authorities in 1875. During the period when the church in Szczebrzeszyn belonged to the Uniates, it was renovated and rebuilt several times, which is why it lost the features of Eastern Christian sacral architecture. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the main and side altars modeled on Latins were installed in the interior of the church, which were removed during the reconstruction in the years 1867–1870. After the entry into force of the Tolerance Act of Tsar Nicholas II, the vast majority of the faithful of the Szczebrzeszyn parish, previously forced to accept Orthodoxy, converted to the Roman Catholic Church. However, the church remained active until 1915, i.e. until the time when Russian officials and soldiers stayed in the city. After Poland regained independence, it was not reopened, because only two people of Orthodox faith remained in Szczebrzeszyn. In 1938, it was on the list of churches designated for destruction as part of the repossession and Polonization campaign, but after protests from residents, its demolition was interrupted. After World War II, the building became the property of the State Treasury. Initially used as a warehouse, and then completely abandoned, over time it fell into complete devastation. In 2006, the ruined church became the property of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church. In 2008–2010, the building underwent a thorough renovation, during which seventeenth-century wall paintings were discovered and uncovered, and the iconostasis, destroyed during World War I, was restored. The temple is the oldest religious building owned by the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church. It is located at 11 Sądowa Street. It was entered into the register of monuments on November 24, 1956 and March 24, 1970.