Poland - Belarus border crossing bruzgi - forge Belostotskaya. Kuźnica Białostocka Kuźnica Białostocka is not only a border crossing on the border between Poland and Belarus, but also a settlement
Every time I crossed the Belarusian-Polish border, going by car, bus or train through Grodno to Poland or returning home, I always ended up in the Belostotskaya Kuznitsa. I always visited the smithy on the way, even if I had to be there longer, then I didn’t go further than the station or the border crossing. For most travelers, Kuznica Białostotsk (in Polish Kuźnica Białostocka) remains only a border crossing point, when traveling through the Bruzgi crossing of the Grodno district of the Grodno region from the Belarusian side, or a station for transferring to another train. However, this small locality has its interesting story, and knowledge of what is in it will not be superfluous for those passing by. This summer I had to study the Forge a little, which I will gladly share with readers.
I practically did not find information in Russian about the Forge, so I will retell the information from the Polish language that I could find on the Internet. Many people passing by think that Forge is a city, but in fact Forge is a village or the whole (wieś) as they say in Polish. The forge is the center of a rural commune (gmina Kuźnica) in the Sokul County (powiat sokólski) of the Podlaskie Voivodeship (województwo podlaskie), accounting for 6.49% of the commune's territory. The municipality covers an area of 133.41 square kilometers, 73% of agricultural land and 19% of the forest area. 4312 people lived in the commune as of June 2004.
The reason for the foundation of the settlement was the development of an iron mine, located on the banks of the river, beautifully known to residents Grodno, Lososyanka (Łosośna) (length 46 km, including 24 km in Poland), which flows into and is a tributary of the Neman River (Niemen) in Belarus. Iron smelting from swamp ores has been carried out since about 1504. The princely court appeared imperceptibly nearby. Under the auspices of Queen Bona in 1536, Jerzy Zielepucha founded the city of Forge, which in 1546 received Magdeburg rights. In 1545, Sigismund August (Zygmunt August) erected a Catholic church. In 1679 the city had four streets and a market. There was a royal nursery of pheasants in the city.
I will digress a little from the history of the Forge and say a few words about the bazhantaria. Bazhantaria (bażantarnia) is the place where there are pheasants bred by man. The pheasant in Polish is called bazhant (bażant). Bazhantaria can be a territory, usually fenced, planted with trees and shrubs, sometimes in the form of a park, as well as a room for keeping these birds, especially in winter. You can see how mistakenly a pheasant park, for example, in the city of Elblag (Elbląg), which often no longer has birds, is called bazhanteria, giving such a park a proper name (park Bazhanteria), which causes a misunderstanding.
Forge on hazel Google Maps |
The forge has increased by our time, which is possibly due to the Belarusian-Polish border crossing. I can’t say exactly how many Forge streets now have, but there are more than a dozen of them. The street names are associated with the directions Grodzieńska (Grodzenska or Grodno, speaking more familiar in Russian), Sokólska (Sokulska or Sokulskaya). Of course, the streets bear the names of prominent figures of Poland Mikołajka Kopiernika (Nicholas Copernicus), Tadeusza Kościuszki (Tadeusz Kosciuszki), marszalka Józefa Piłsudskiego (Marshal Józef Piłsudski), Adam Mickiewicza, majora Stanisława Bilmina (Major Stanisław Bilmin). The names that are mentioned here are known far beyond the borders of Poland, only not many people know about Stanislav Bilmin, he is a native of these places, was born in Khodorevka (Chodorówka) now the commune of Suchowola (Suchowola) in Sokulsky district, was awarded the most honorary military award of the Order Military Prowess(Order Virtuti Militari), was tortured to death by the NKVD in Katyn. The streets also have beautiful and understandable Polish names Wschodnia (eastern), Wodna (water), Polna (field), Leśąna (forest), Topolowa (poplar) and others.
Poland is a Catholic country and starting from Kuznice you will start to meet many Catholic churches. I had to read that in Poland there are no other churches, with which I absolutely disagree, because there are many Orthodox churches especially in the eastern part of Poland. In the Forge there is an Orthodox parish of the Church of the Ascension of the Cross of the Lord (cerkiew prawosawna Podwyższenia Krzyża Pańskiego), which, unfortunately, I did not have time to capture in the photo, so there will be an occasion to walk around the Forge sometime if possible. During the history of the area, the Catholic church also changed in it, the Church of God's Providence (kościół Opatrzności Bożej), built in 1860-1864, has survived to this day.
Quite by chance, walking around the Forge early in the morning, when almost everyone was still sleeping, so the area looks deserted, I ended up in a place of eternal rest - the Catholic cemetery. It is located on a hill, which seemed very unusual. I wanted to talk about it in the same post, but I managed to take too many photos and it’s better to place them differently, devoting a separate post. So read the continuation of the story about the Forge, where you can see how the inhabitants of a small village treat their ancestors, there is also a story about how the Poles cherish the memory of the history of their country.You can leave the Forge for Grodno by train at 13:18 and at 22:54 Polish time. The ticket price in the summer of 2013 was approximately PLN 13 (at the approximate exchange rate for 1 US dollar - PLN 3). Trains depart from Grodno to Kuznitsa at 5:50 and 16:43 local time. A ticket will cost approximately 40,000 Belarusian rubles (the exchange rate of 1 US dollar is approximately 9,000 Belarusian rubles) as of the summer of 2013. The train ride takes 55 minutes, excluding time for customs clearance. And do not forget to take into account the change of clocks for summer and winter time. Traveling by rail in Poland is always cheaper than by bus. If you are traveling by train, then it is more profitable to buy tickets to the Forge or from the Forge, but if you buy a ticket to Grodno from Warsaw or from Grodno to Warsaw, it will be more expensive. Tickets can be purchased from the conductor directly on the train, but the cost will then be higher, except if you boarded at a station where the ticket office does not work.
The Forge has facilities that a traveler may need. These are, of course, currency exchange offices, of which there are several in the Forge, both at the border itself and near the station, a bank with an ATM. Bank Pekao S. A. is located near the railway station at st. Sokólska, 26, where you can get cash from your card. In Poland, it is not a problem to pay by non-cash, even in very remote places, but there are times when it is necessary to have cash with you when the bank terminal may not work. There is a post office not far from the station, and just in case of emergency, the police are nearby.
Recently there was a story about the city of Shalchininkai, located on the territory of Lithuania, on the border of Belarus and Lithuania. There he talked about how Lithuanians protect their native language, sealing Russian and Polish inscriptions on the packaging of goods. In Poland, the situation looks completely different. In all eastern Polish cities where tourists come to buy goods, everything is organized to attract your attention and so that you buy goods from them. Everywhere and everywhere there are inscriptions in Russian, which, unlike Lithuanian, is very similar to Russian. I must say that with the help of the Internet you can make an order to the Forge and do not need to travel in search of something big cities. There are intermediaries in the Forge who cooperate with all major online stores, which makes it easier to select and search for the necessary thing.Search for a map of a city, village, region or country
Forge. Yandex map.
Allows you to: change the scale; measure distances; switch display modes - scheme, satellite view, hybrid. The Yandex-maps mechanism is used, it contains: districts, street names, house numbers, and other objects of cities and large villages, allows you to perform search by address(square, avenue, street + house number, etc.), for example: "Lenin street 3", "forge hotels", etc.
If you did not find something, try the section Google Satellite Map: Forge or a vector map from OpenStreetMap: Forge.
Link to the selected object on the map can be sent by e-mail, icq, sms or posted on the site. For example, to show the meeting point, delivery address, location of a store, cinema, train station, etc.: align the object with the marker in the center of the map, copy the link on the left above the map and send it to the addressee - by the marker in the center, he will determine the place you specified .
Forge - online map with a satellite view: streets, houses, districts and other objects.
To change the scale, use the "mouse" scroll wheel, the "+ -" slider on the left, or the "Zoom in" button in the upper left corner of the map; to view a satellite view or a national map - select the corresponding menu item in the upper right corner; to measure the distance - click the ruler at the bottom right and put points on the map.
Online video queue
Border crossing Bruzgi - Forge Bialystotskaya is located in the Grodno region, Grodno district, Bruzgi village. At this checkpoint across the state border there is a republican customs clearance point - PTO "Bruzgi-2" (working hours around the clock). The specialization of the PTO "Bruzgi-2" is customs operations related to the arrival in the customs territory of the Customs Union and the departure from such territory of goods transported in international road traffic.
The checkpoint Bruzgi - Kuznitsa Belostotskaya is located on the Belarusian side at the border crossing Bruzgi - Kuznitsa Belostotskaya not far from the settlement Bruzgi of the Grodno district of the Grodno region, is one of the checkpoints in Belarus, and from the Polish side the checkpoint "Kuznitsa Belostotskaya" has an international status. Designed for the passage of citizens of any country and stateless persons.
Bandwidth checkpoint "Bruzgi" is up to 5000 cars, 700 trucks, 100 buses per day in both directions. The checkpoint "Kuznitsa Belostotskaya" is capable of passing up to 5,000 vehicles of a mixed type.
Border crossing length on the border of Bruzgi - Kuznitsa Belostotskaya from the barrier of the Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus at the entrance to the checkpoint "Bruzgi" to the barrier at the exit from the checkpoint "Kuznitsa Belostotskaya" is 1.2 km.
Served destinations: Bialystok, Warsaw, Berlin: Brest - Warsaw, Vitebsk - Warsaw, Gomel - Warsaw, Minsk - Warsaw, Moscow - Warsaw. Additional destinations: Krakow, Wroclaw, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava: Brest-Prague, Vitebsk-Prague, Gomel-Prague, Minsk-Prague, Moscow-Prague.
The nearest checkpoint is:
- - 69 km along the R-99 road.