Tatar cultural centre to open in 2015
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
12.11.2014 12:58
Construction is underway on a cultural centre about Poland's Tatar minority in Kruszyniany, north eastern Poland, with the enterprise set to open in mid-2015.
Tatar mosque as Bohoniki, north east Poland. Photo: Wikipedia
Mosque, Bohoniki. photo - wikipedia
The investment, which is being created by the local Muslim community, is scheduled to cost 5.4 million zloty (1.27 million euro), about two thirds of which is being covered by EU funding.
The building has also received a grant from Poland's ministry of culture.
Construction was delayed while the remaining funds were sought out, but the Kuwaiti government stepped in with a donation of 150,000 dollars.
The so-called Educational and Cultural Centre of Poland's Muslim Tatars will include a museum documenting the history of the community.
Tatars have lived on Polish soil for over 600 years.
Many prominent Poles have Tatar roots, including the late Nobel Prize-winning author Henryk Sienkiewicz and sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz.
It is estimated that about 5000 practising Tatar Muslims still live in Poland, with the largest numbers based in the villages of Kruszyniany and Bohoniki, near Bialystok. Both of the aforementioned villages boast historic wooden mosques. (nh)
Source: PAP