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With its diversity of natural landscapes, Mazovia is a region of great natural beauty.

To many foreigners, Mazovia is, above all, a land of verdure and natural landscapes, often considered the quintessence of the Polish countryside.

Even though the biggest Polish city, Warsaw, lies in its territory, the region has largely retained its natural character. The scenery is diverse, with agricultural landscapes dominating throughout most of the province, arable land and orchards being the prevailing features. Forests, mostly pine and oak, account for 20 per cent of the region’s total area. Unlike in many other European regions, they are open to the public. What remains in Mazovia of the virgin woodland once covering Europe’s territory is the Kampinos Forest on the outskirts of Warsaw. It is among Poland’s major forest areas, a national park situated close to the city limits. The woodland growing on sand dunes supports a wealth of wildlife including elk, lynx, beaver and badger. The Biała and Kozienice Forests are the region’s other important woodland areas.

High environmental protection standards contribute to the conservation of natural scenery. In terms of the size of protected areas, Poland is among the top-ranking European countries: 30 per cent of the country’s total area is under protection. Mazovia has six landscape parks and over a thousand wildlife reserves. Areas of greatest natural interest include unregulated river stretches, inhabited by dozens of bird species. Storks are a characteristic feature of the region’s scenery: every fourth European stork lives in Poland, and stork nests on the roofs of homesteads are a distinctive feature of the Mazovian countryside.

The project „Regions of Poland” was realized in cooperation with the Offices of the Presidents of the 16 regions of Poland.

Design, coordination, realization – Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland

Contents – Offices of the Presidents of the Regions

Wykonanie:

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