Boulder with carved hoof in the park in Radzyń Podlaski

Next to the corner of the eastern wing of the Radzyń palace, there is a mysterious stone with a carved trace of a horse's hoof. A lot of legends accumulated around it. One of them says: "When Stanisław Szczuka built a castle in Radzyń, he invited most eminent guests from the entire area in order to boast of his new sear. Somehow, a deuce was found among them, and started to laugh at the host: »What kind of a castle has a straw roof!« And bragged that he could jump over the Radzyń castle on his horse. So he did as he had promised. He spurred his horse, jumped onto the risalit and… at that moment, a rooster crowed. The deuce vanished in thin air. He did, however, leave a trace: a granite stone, which he knocked off the roof and on it was an imprint of a horse's hoof. The very same stone now lies in the palace park." So much for the legend. On the other hand, researchers recognize the stone carvings of horseshoes, hooves, feet, boots, bowls, and crosses as road signs, tombstones, and astronomical or cult markings.

In his Historic-Statistical Description of the Międzyrzecze Parish, Father Adolf Pleszczyński (1841-1925) from Żelizna (Komarówka Podlaska county) mentions memorial stones with inscription, of which many have once been here, but most have been used to build bridges and roads. He gives examples of such monuments (Międzyrzec Podlaski, Zahajki, Zasiadki, Pościsze, Żabce), stating that some of them "come from the Medieval Ages and served as border markers; depending on whether the people putting them were cavalry (nobility) or infantry (peasants), the stones were marked with either horseshoes or feet". It is worth remembering that even in the 1960's, largest groups of stones with such markings were found in the Radzyń county. Only single items were found in other areas. Some contemporary researchers (e.g. Fr. Zbigniew Szczepańczuk) support the thesis of the carvings' cultist, magical character. The artifacts in question are believed to be relics of a distant pagan era. Their dating still remains extremely difficult. So for the time being, the stone in Rzadzyń remains a mystery.

In Radzyń, next to the northern fence of the palace-park complex (Międzyrzecka St.), nearly on the axis of the palace, there is a stone post referred to as sacral. It is 350 cm high, and has 290 cm in circumference. It is still unclear as to when and why it has been erected. One of the hypotheses says that it used to be a landmark (marking the border of the property). Another gives it votive meaning and is related to great cholera epidemics that haunted Podlasie and the northern part of Lubelszczyzna in 1838 and in 1883.