These are excerpts from articles about places in Poland that appear on the Poland Portal. See talk page for instructions about adding new articles.
Portal:Poland/Selected location/3
Medieval port crane in Gdańsk
Gdańsk is Poland's principal seaport located in the
Kashubian region on the
Baltic Sea. Together with the spa town of
Sopot and the industrial city of
Gdynia, it forms a
conurbation known as
Trójmiasto ("Tricity"). It has a complex political history with long spells of Polish rule interspersed with periods of German control and two spells as a free city. As an important port and shipbuilding center, the picturesque city was a member of the
Hanseatic League. For much of its history the majority of its inhabitants were German speakers who referred to their city as
Danzig, but after
World War II it became firmly Polish. Gdańsk is the birthplace of the
Solidarity movement which, led by
Lech Wałęsa, played a role in bringing down the communist rule across Central Europe. (
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Portal:Poland/Selected location/5
Silesian Planetarium in Chorzów
Chorzów is a city on the
Rawa River in
Upper Silesia and part of the
Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, Poland's largest
conurbation. Originally called
Königshütte in German and
Królewska Huta in Polish (both meaning "Royal Iron Works"), it was renamed Chorzów after a merger with a village of that name in 1934. Chorzów used to be one of the most important cities of the
Upper Silesian Industrial Region with extensive industry in
coal mining, steel, chemistry, manufacturing, and energy sectors. As heavy-industry establishments were either closed or scaled down, or restructured and modernized, the city has been evolving towards
service economy. Chorzów is nationally famous for its
Silesian Central Park, complete with amusement grounds, a cable line railway, a
zoo, a
sports stadium, and
the largest and oldest planetarium in Poland (pictured). (
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Portal:Poland/Selected location/6
Izrael Poznański's Palace in Łódź
Łódź, located in central Poland, is one of the country's largest cities. Although dating back as far as the 14th century, the city's growth began under
Russian rule in the 1820s as immigrants were attracted by its booming
textile industry. Nicknamed "promised land", its character was shaped by its Polish, Jewish, German and Russian population. During the
Nazi German occupation, it was renamed
Litzmannstadt and became the site of the second largest
Jewish ghetto. After
World War II, Łódź became the principal center of Polish
filmmaking and home of the
National Film School. As textile industry collapsed following the fall of communism, Łódź has attracted investment in the
IT sector, from companies including
Dell and
Infosys. (
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Portal:Poland/Selected location/7
Szczecin as seen from the Oder River
Szczecin is one of Poland's largest seaports, located at the mouth of the
Oder River where it empties into the
Szczecin Lagoon. It is the capital city of the
West Pomeranian Voivodeship, a region in the northwestern part of the country. Founded by the
Slavs in the 8th century, it passed into German, Danish and Swedish hands during the course of history. In 1720, following the
Great Northern War, Sweden ceded Stettin, as it was then known, to
Prussia. Nine years later it became the birthplace of Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, better known as Empress
Catherine the Great of Russia. After the city's destruction during
World War II and subsequent
expulsion of its German population, Szczecin was rebuilt and resettled with Poles and Ukrainians. Its major industries include
shipbuilding,
metallurgy,
fishing and
beer making. (
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Portal:Poland/Selected location/8
Courtyard of the Lublin Castle
Lublin is the largest city in eastern Poland. Dating back to early Middle Ages, the city played an important role in the nation's history. It was the site of the
Lublin Union which established the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, and of the
Lublin Committee which introduced the communist regime in Poland in 1944; seat of a major
yeshiva and the Jewish
Council of Four Lands in the 16th–18th centuries, but also of the
Majdanek extermination camp during the
Holocaust. Its colleges include the
Marie Curie University, as well as the
Catholic University of Lublin where Karol Wojtyła, the future
Pope John Paul II, gave lectures in ethics. Since Lublin's biggest employer, the state-owned truck manufacturer
FSC, was acquired by the South Korean
Daewoo and then entered bankruptcy in 2001, the city has been struggling to improve its economic performance and standards of living, making it one of the main beneficiaries of
EU development funds. (
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Portal:Poland/Selected location/9
The Spodek multipurpose sports arena at night
Katowice, located on the
Kłodnica and
Rawa rivers in the
Silesian Highlands, is the capital city of the
Silesian Voivodeship. With 312,201 inhabitants, it is the largest city of the
Upper Silesian Industry Area and the principal scientific, cultural, industrial, business and transport center of the region. Before
World War II, Katowice was the seat of the
Silesian Sejm, the legislature of the
Silesian Voivodeship. The multipurpose arena complex known as
Spodek, or "Saucer"
(pictured), is the city's most recognizable landmark. (
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Portal:Poland/Selected location/14
Zielona Góra town hall
Zielona Góra is a city in western Poland. Prior to
World War II it was part of the German province of
Brandenburg and known as
Grünberg; both Polish and German names mean "Green Mountain". Grünberg grew during the 19th century thanks to booming textile industry. Today it is the seat of the legislature (
sejmik) of the
Lubusz Voivodeship. The surrounding area is one few places in Poland that are suitable for growing grapes. Wine has been produced locally since the 13th century and a
wine festival has taken place annually since 1852. The best known modern local wine is called
Monte Verde, which is the city's name in Latin. (
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Portal:Poland/Selected location/17
A wisent in the Białowieża Forest
The
Białowieża Forest, an ancient woodland straddling the Polish-Belarusian border, is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense
primeval forest which once spread across the
European Plain. It is home to the
wisent (pictured),
elk,
wild boars,
konik horses, and other animals. Its name,
Puszcza Białowieska in
Polish and
Belavezhskaya Pushcha in
Belarusian, comes from the village of
Białowieża located in the forest. Historically it belonged to Polish kings and, later, Russian emperors who used it as royal hunting grounds or food reserve for the army. It has been protected since 1538 when King
Sigismund I instituted death penalty for poaching the wisent. Today parts of the forest on both sides of the border are protected as national parks, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site and a
Biosphere Reserve. (
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Portal:Poland/Selected location/18
Swoboda Lock on the Augustów Canal
The
Augustów Canal is a
summit-level canal which links the
Biebrza River in northeastern Poland with the
Neman River in Belarus. At over 100 km long, it comprises 18
locks (example pictured) and 22
sluice gates. Ever since the canal was built in 1823−1839 to provide a navigable waterway from the
"Congress" Kingdom of Poland to the
Baltic Sea bypassing
Prussia, it has been described by experts as a technological marvel. It uses a post-glacial channel depression, forming the chain of Augustów Lakes, and the river valleys of the Biebrza,
Netta,
Czarna Hańcza, and Neman, which made it possible to perfectly integrate the canal with the surrounding elements of the natural environment. Although the project was never finalized, the completed part of the Augustów Canal remained an inland waterway of local significance used for commercial shipping to and from the
Vistula and Neman Rivers until rendered obsolete by the regional railway network. (
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Portal:Poland/Selected location/20
Bydgoszcz granaries
Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland, straddling the confluence of the
Vistula River and its left-bank tributary, the
Brda. It is the eighth-largest city in Poland and the co-capital, with
Toruń, of the
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Bydgoszcz is an architecturally rich city, with
gothic,
neo-gothic,
neo-baroque,
neoclassicist,
modernist and
Art Nouveau styles present, for which it has earned the nickname "Little Berlin". The notable granaries on
Mill Island and along the riverside belong to one of the most recognized
timber-framed landmarks in Poland. (
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