The Church of St. Anne is the oldest church in Biała Podlaska and the main landmark of the Radziwiłł era in the city. It stands in the center, on Warsaw Street, just a few minutes' walk from the castle complex. The history of the building is unusual: it was built by Protestants, and was made a Catholic church by Prince Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł “Orphan”.
From Meeting House to Church
The first church on this site is mentioned in 1525, so in 2025 the parish celebrated its 500th anniversary. After a fire in 1572, a masonry building was erected on the ruins, which served as a meeting house for the Polish Brethren — a Protestant community also called Arians. For almost forty years, the city was one of the centers of this movement. In 1596, Radziwiłł “Orphan” expelled the Polish Brethren, rebuilt the building, and in 1603 consecrated it as the Church of St. Anne.
The rectangular structure retains features of late Gothic: slightly pointed windows and buttresses. Radziwiłł added a narrower presbytery with an apse, sacristy, and treasury on the east side, and a three-arched choir was arranged in the western part.
Chapels and Altar
To the south, the Baroque Rosary Chapel from 1625 adjoins the church — it was conceived as the burial place of Tekla z Wołłowicz, wife of the city owner Aleksander Ludwik Radziwiłł. To the north stands the Chapel of St. Jan Kanty from the early 18th century, often called the most valuable Baroque monument of Podlasie: rich stucco decoration, and on the ceiling — scenes from the life and afterlife of Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł.
The main altar, made of black Dębnik marble, was built by 1696 at the expense of Katarzyna z Sobieskich Radziwiłłowa, sister of King Jan III. At the top is the Radziwiłł coat of arms: a black eagle with three golden trumpets on its chest. At her request, a cross was placed above the signature, at the foot of which lies a crescent moon — in memory of Jan III’s victory over the Turks at Vienna in 1683. The neo-Renaissance narthex was added in 1873.
Around the Church
On the east, part of the masonry fence is a three-arched bell tower-gate. The church’s structure served as a model for the smaller Radziwiłł castle chapel in Biała. Between 1875 and 1915, when the Reformed Church of St. Anthony stood as an Orthodox church, some of its decorations were kept here. Nearby, in a park, stands a bronze bench of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, unveiled in 2008: the writer studied at the Biała Academy from 1822 to 1826.
How to Get There
Biała Podlaska is located on the Warsaw — Terespol railway; trains from Warsaw take about two hours; from Lublin — approximately 120 km. For Ukrainians, this is Poland, a foreign passport is required. The church is open during services. Nearby are the Church of Saint Anthony, the former Basilian church on Brzeska Street, and the tenement house "Under the Prophets". From the city begins the Blue Trail to Hanna on the Bug, and more broadly about the region — in the article Polish Polissia.
