Różanystok
Różanystok is a village and former monastery in northeastern Poland, known regionally for both its ornate 18th-century minor basilica and its agricultural magnet school.
Geography
Różanystok, formerly known as Krzywy Stok ("Crooked Slope"), is located in the township of Dąbrowa Białostocka, which is in turn situated in the Podlaskie region's Sokółka County division. From the years 1975-1998 the area was part of the Białystok Voivodeship administrative district. The Belarussian city of Grodno can be seen from the Basilica's bell tower.
History
The village is home to a well-known Mary, Mother of God shrine, to which tens of thousands of pilgrims travel each year. The shrine's focus is a 17th-century image of Mary holding the infant Jesus which is believed to be miraculous. A "coronation" celebration for the Różanystok icon was held on June 28, 1981, and the church was named a minor basilica on August 30, 1987.[1]
Since 1954, Różanystok has also been the location of a state-run Zespól Szkól Rolniczych (Group Agricultural School). The school's five-year technical program prepares students for work in agriculture and related fields, while its four-year economics program prepares students for work in business and/or advanced studies at the university level.
Demographics
Most of Różanystok's 510 residents, who primarily live in two three-story apartment buildings within the village, attend, work at, or are retired from employment at the school.
Trivia
- Różanystok is a stop on the northeastern Poland PKP train line, which also stops in Białystok, Sokółka, Augustów and Suwałki.
- The church complex was used as a military storage depot during World War I, and several of its buildings were destroyed in World War II.[2]
- Part of the village's geographical boundary is defined by a stone wall that remains from its days as a monastery.
- A wooden home that still stands in the southwest quadrant of the village is reputed to have been built as the summer residence of a sister of Nicholas II of Russia.
- The exposed roots of a tree in the village's small forest are maintained by the village's children, who leave coins, food and flowers as presents for gnomes believed to live nearby.