the Red Army. The Russians launched a massive Katyusha rocket launcher attack resulting in Serock's destruction. The town was captured by the Red Army in October 1944, and afterwards restored to Poland. 55% of the buildings were destroyed, other were damaged. Today there are no Jews. In the summer of 2000, a visiting descendant of former residents discovered that a number of gravestones (matzevot) were piled up in the city park. The stones had been gathered by a non-Jewish resident who roped off the area. In 2006, a visit by members of the Jewish Records Indexing-Poland project confirmed this and an attempt is under way to establish a memorial on the site of the former Jewish cemetery. The United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad is involved in the project. Recent times In 1948 Serock was visited by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. In 1963 the Zegrze Reservoir was formed, and Serock developed as a popular vacation destination for inhabitants of nearby Warsaw. The model settlement Barbarka An early medieval settlement called Ogrodziskiem or Barbarka was located on the right bank of the Narew river, near the mouth of the Bug river. Its development was from the 11th to 13th centuries. It represents one of the oldest castles in Mazovia. The settlement was located on two trade and communication routes: To Rus: Nur, Brok, and Brańsk to Greater Poland, Kuyavia and Pomerania; From southern Poland to Yotvingia and Prussia. During the tests conducted in 1961 by Prof. Dr. Zdzisław Rajewski, pieces of pottery, pugging (flooring) and parts of animal bones were found. Excavations carried out from 1962 to 1966 by Barbara Zawadzka-Antosik showed three stages of the early settlement and human functioning in these areas in the 14th and 17th centuries. They also located the cemetery and a nave chapel with apse. Approximately 200 archaeological sites were excavated consisting of, among others, fragments of pottery, animal bones and the remains of fish. They showed that the people mainly engaged in agriculture (cultivated wheat, rye, peas), fishing, weaving and craft work. Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary The brick, one-nave church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Kościół Zwiastowania Najświętszej Maryi Panny) – formerly St. Adalbert's (św. Wojciecha) – was founded by the dukes of Mazovia: Janusz III and Stanislaus. The initiator was a Serock pastor Wojciech Popielski of Popielżyna. The church was built