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Information about the Region

The Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship is situated in the north-eastern part of Poland. It consists of three historic lands: Warmia, Mazury and Powiśle. Due to its environmental values, it is considered to be one of the most beautiful regions of Poland.

The Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship is the fourth largest region of Poland, the territory of which is 24 thousand square kilometres. Administratively, it is divided into 116 communes and 19 poviats. The city of Olsztyn (over 170 thousand inhabitants) is the capital of the region. Elbląg (130 thousand) and Ełk (60 thousand) are also the cities that list among the region’s largest ones. Altogether, the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship is inhabited by more than 1.4 million people. Its density of population is the lowest in Poland - 59 people per square kilometre. However, the region is inhabited by many national minorities: Ukrainian (80 000 people), German (20 000 people), Romani, Belarusian and others.

The main branches of economy are formed by tourism, ecologic agriculture and healthy food production, wood and furniture industry. It is also in Olsztyn that the largest Michelin tyre factory in Europe is situated.

To the north of it, the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship borders with the Kaliningrad Oblast belonging to the Russian Federation. It is possible to cross that 200-kilometre-long Polish-Russian border, which is at the same time a fragment of the outer border of the European Union, at the road checkpoints in Bezledy, Gronowo and Gołdap. Currently, there are building works in progress for the largest and the most modern Polish-Russian checkpoint: Grzechotki - Mamonovo II. The voivodship also neighbours with the Baltic Sea - via the Vistula Lagoon. In Elbląg there is the voivodship’s only one maritime port with its 2.5-kilometre-long quay. On the territory of the port, there are some corn silos, ship repair yards and sailing bases. In Szymany near Szczytno, there is an international airport servicing for the small air traffic and charter flights. It is planned to extend it in the nearest future. Among the biggest foreign investors in Warmia and Mazury the following should be listed: Michelin (tyre factory in Olsztyn), Safilin (France, flax processing in Miłakowo and Szczytno), Philips Lightning (the Netherlands, lightning accessories in Kętrzyn), Heineken (the Netherlands, brewery in Elbląg), Scheider (Germany, furniture industry), Ikea (Sweden, furniture factory in Lubawa and a sawmill in Wielbark), Alstom Power (turbine producer in Elbląg), Smithfield Ford (USA, a shareholder in the meat processing factory in Morliny, Ełk and Iława).

There 9 schools of higher education operating in the region and they educate over 60 thousand students altogether. The University of Warmia and Mazury is the region’s largest institution of that type - there are over 30 thousand students in its 39 faculties. In the scale of the whole Poland, the University boasts the second, after the Warsaw Technical University, highest number of implementing its innovations and achievements of its research works. Over 8 per cent of the voivodship’s inhabitants hold the tiles of higher education.

Warmia and Mazury is the region called ‘a land of thousand lakes’, however, there are twice as many of them, to be factually correct. The largest lakes are: Śniardwy (113.8 km2) and Mamry (104.4 km2). The deepest ones - Wkuśniki (68 m), Babięta Wielkie (65 m) and Piłakno (56.5 m). Some of those lakes, linked by canals and rivers, make many-kilometre-long water routes. The most famous one is the Elbląg Canal that is equipped with a system of slipways making it possible to sail a ship on... the land. The Canal was built in the middle of the 19th century and joined the Drwęckie Lake (Ostróda) with the Druzno Lake (Elbląg). In the beginning, it was used for floating the wood - now, the Elbląg Canal, being the only one object of its kind in Europe, is the main tourist attraction of the region. The cruises along the Canal are popular among thousands of tourists during its opening season.

Summer is also the time when the lakes are simply besieged by enthusiasts of sailing, canoeing, windsurfing, angling and diving. The town of Mikołajki, placed between Tałckie and Mikołajskie Lakes, is a Mecca for sailors. Often, it is also called ‘the summer capital of Poland’ because of its quays and piers full of moored boats and luxury yachts. It is a good idea to walk along its port promenade, spend some time in one of its numerous taverns or visit the centre of Mikołajki and the 19th-century Evangelic church overlooking the town.

Those who relax by the Jeziorak Lake, the longest of the Polish lakes (28 km), should pay a visit to Iława, where the largest inland island of Europe - Wielka Żuława (82.4 ha) - is to be found. There are numerous rivers of Mazury and the queen of them - the Krutynia River - is particularly worth a recommendation. It is the most picturesque canoeing route of Europe that runs through the Mazury Landscape Park, the Pisz Forest and numerous lakes. The canoeing may be started at any point of the Krutynia River, however, canoeing along the whole route, which is 102 km long, from Sorkwity to Ruciane Nida, takes up to several days for practised water sports enthusiasts.

The region’s most beautiful landscapes have been considered as protected areas and incorporated into a complex of Landscape Parks of the Iława Lake District and Dylewo Hills, the Mazury Landscape Park and many others. The most precious natural formations have been given the status of nature reserves. The most interesting of these include: The Sources of the Łyna River, The Valley of the Wałsza River and The Boulders of Fuledzki Róg. Also, the Łukajno Lake, situated close to Mikołajki, is a widely known bird reserve protecting the mute swan, the Eurasian coot, the grebe, the corn crake and many other rare birds. There are also a few reserves of the cormorant. A special programme, coordinated by ‘pro Natura’ - the Polish Society for the Friends of Nature, has been prepared to protect the white stork. In the northern part of the voivodship, by the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast, there are several villages where storks have placed their breeding colonies housing a few dozens of nests. The title of the most famous stork village belongs to Żywkowo.

Popielno is a place that will not be omitted by any nature lover that roams throughout Mazury. It is a place where, in the neighbourhood of the Śniardwy and Bełdany Lakes, a research station of the Polish Academy of Sciences has been built to study and observe beavers and konik horses - small Polish ponies related to tarpan horses. In nearby Kosewo Górne, a deer farm awaits its visitors - there one can admire deer, fallow deer, Przewalski's horses and mouflons. Animals as wolves, lynxes, boars and deer may also be watched in the Wild Animal Park of Kadzidłowo.

The beauty of the natural landscapes of Warmia and Mazury is complemented by human artefacts: perfectly preserved Gothic castles, numerous churches and palace residences. In the List of 100 Unusual Monuments of Poland, compiled by the “Rzeczopspolita” newspaper, there are 16 items that may be found in Warmia and Mazury. Those attractions make the region be the destination for circa 5 million tourists, every fifth of whom comes from abroad. At their disposal there are more than 34 thousand accommodation places in most extraordinary places such as interiors of a medieval castle in Ryn.

Tourist crowd to see the Fields of Grunwald where in 1410 allied forces of Poland and Lithuania surmounted the power of the Teutonic Knights. Every anniversary of the battle is celebrated here with shows of the knights’ tournaments that introduce their watchers to the spirit of Middle Ages as well as to the elements of the knights’ culture. Among Warmia and Mazury’s most interesting objects tourists may also find the ruins of the former Adolf Hitler’s headquarters in Gierłoż near Kętrzyn as well as the Museum of Folk Building in Olsztynek, where cottages, outbuildings and whole homesteads from various ethnographic regions of former East Prussia have been collected.

In Wojnowo, a Mazurian village upon Krutynia River, visitors may see an Old Believers’ temple, called ‘a molenna’, as well as a monastery, the cells of which are used now as rent rooms for tourists. Nowadays, in the village, there are about a dozen of Old Believers living, the ancestors of whom found refuge from prosecution nowhere else but in the land of Mazury.

 

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

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