Kodeń

Kodeń is a village in eastern Poland on the Bug River, which forms the border between Poland and Belarus. Administratively, it belongs to Biała County in Lublin Voivodeship. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Kodeń. It has approximately 1,580 inhabitants (as of 2021). The village is the site of a famous Marian shrine.

==History== thumb|left|Kodeń, 1872 The first written mention comes from the 16th century, stating a settlement existed at the same site a century earlier. The settlement was purchased by Jan Sapieha, who fortified it and in 1511 established a town of Magdeburg law. In 1513, Jan Sapieha became voivode of the newly founded Lithuanian voivodeship of Podlaskie. In 1569, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania merged with Poland through the Union of Lublin, and by the Union of Brest of 1596, the Orthodox church of Lithuania acknowledged the authority of the pope, that way becoming “Uniate” or Greek Catholic.