POLAND. Poland officially the Republic of Poland is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the.

POLAND

Poland officially the Republic of Poland is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the

south; Ukraine, Belarus to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave)

and Lithuania to the north. 

The capital of Poland is Warsaw. The total area of

Poland is 312,679 square kilometres making it

the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over

38.5 million people.

Many historians trace the establishment of a Polish state to 966, when Mieszko I converted to

Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and

in 1569 it cemented a longstanding political

association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union

of Lublin, forming the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The

Commonwealth ceased to exist in 1795, when the Polish territory

was partitioned among the Kingdom of Prussia,

the Russian Empire, and Old Austria. Poland regained

independence (as the Second Polish Republic) at the end of

World War I, in 1918.

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at its greatest extent, after the Truce of Deulino of 1619

Two decades later, in September 1939, World War

II started with the invasions of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (as part of

the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact). More than six million Polish

citizens died in the war. Poland became aclient

state of the Soviet Union in 1944 and was accordingly

renamed the People's Republic of Poland in 1952. During the Revolutions of 1989, Poland's communist

government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new

constitution establishing itself as a democracy and renaming

itself the "Third Polish Republic".

Despite the vast destruction the country experienced during World War II, Poland managed to preserve much of its cultural

wealth. There are currently 14 heritage sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in Poland and 54 Historical

Monuments. Since the end of the communist period, Poland has achieved a "very high" ranking in terms of human development.

Poland's high-income economy is considered to be one of the

healthiest of the post-Communist countries and is currently one of the

fastest growing within the EU. Having a strong domestic market, low private debt, flexible currency,

and not being dependent on a single export sector, Poland is the only European economy to have

avoided the late-2000s recession. Since the fall of the

communist government, Poland has steadfastly pursued a policy

of liberalising the economy and today stands out as a successful example of the transition from

a centrally planned economy to a primarily market-based economy. In

2009 Poland had the highest GDP growth in the EU. As of February

2012, the Polish economy has not entered a recession in the wake of

the global financial crisis.

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West

Slavic languages, used throughout Poland (being that

country's official language) and by Polish minorities in other

countries. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has

several additions to the letters of the basic Latin script. Despite the

pressure of non-Polish administrations in Poland (during

the 19th and early 20th centuries) resulting

from Partitions of Poland, who often attempted to suppress the Polish language, a rich literature

has developed over the centuries, and the language is currently the largest, in terms of speakers, of the West Slavic group. It is also

the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian and ahead

of Ukrainian.

Most residents of Poland adhere to the Christian faith, with 86.7% belonging to the Roman Catholic Church. The

numerical dominance of the Catholic faith is a recent development in Polish history, resulting from the

German Holocaust of Polish Jews, the flight of German Protestants from the Soviet army at the end of World War

II and the Soviet annexation of the mostly Orthodox and Byzantine

Catholic populated Eastern Poland.

THE MOST WELL KNOWN POLES

Poland is the birthplace of many distinguished personalities among which are: Mikołaj Kopernik, Fryderyk Chopin, Maria

Skłodowska Curie, Tadeusz Kościuszko, Kazimierz Pułaski, Józef Piłsudski, Lech Wałęsa and Pope John Paul II. Great Polish

painter Jan Matejko devoted his monumental art to the most significant historical events on Polish lands, along with the

playwright, painter and poet Stanisław Wyspiański. Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy) was an example of a Polish avant-

garde philosopher and author of aesthetic theories.

Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was

a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated

a heliocentric model of the universe which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the

center. The publication of Copernicus' book, De revolutionibus orbium

coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), just before his death in

1543, is considered a major event in the history of science. It began

the Copernican Revolution and contributed importantly to the scientific revolution.

Frédéric François Chopin (1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849), born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, was a Polish-

born composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era. Chopin, a child

prodigy, grew up in Warsaw, completed his musical education there, and

composed many of his works there before leaving Poland shortly before the

outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and

naturalized-French physicist and chemist, famous for her pioneering research

on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to

win in multiple sciences. She was also the first female professor at the University of

Paris, and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own

merits in the Panthéon in Paris.

Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus II), (18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005), was

the head of the Catholic Church from 16 October 1978 to his death in 2005. He was the second longest-serving pope in history

and, as a Pole, the first non-Italian since Pope Adrian VI, who died in 1523. John

Paul II is considered one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. He is

recognised as helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and eventually all

of Europe. John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism,

Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion.

Lech Wałęsa (born 29 September 1943) is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic

leader, he co-founded Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won

the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. In the Polish election of 1990, he

successfully ran for the newly re-established office of President of Poland. He presided over Poland's transformation from a communist to

a post-Communist state, but his popularity waned. His international fame remains.

Wałęsa continues to speak and lecture in Poland and abroad on history and politics.

Józef Klemens Piłsudski (5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman and

dictator of Poland—Chief of State (1918–22) and leader (1926–35) of the Second Polish Republic. From mid-World War I he had a

major influence in Poland's politics, and was an important figure on the European political scene. He was the person most responsible for the creation of the Second Republic of

Poland in 1918, 123 years after it had been taken over by Russia, Austria and Prussia. He

believed in a multicultural Poland with recognition of numerous ethnic and religious

nationalities. His arch-rival Roman Dmowski by contrast called for a purified

Poland based on Polish-speaking Catholics with little role for minorities.

POLISH CUISINE

Polish cuisine is a style of cooking and food preparation originating in or widely popular in Poland. Polish cuisine has evolved over the centuries to become very eclectic due to Poland's history. Polish

cuisine shares many similarities with other Central European cuisines, especially German, Austrian and Hungarian cuisines, as well

as Jewish, Belarussian, Ukrainian, Russian, French and Italian culinary traditions. It is rich in meat, especially pork, chicken and beef

(depending on the region) and winter vegetables (cabbage in the dish bigos), and spices. It is also characteristic in its use of various

kinds of noodles the most notable of which are kluski as well as cereals such as kasha (from the Polish word kasza). Generally

speaking, Polish cuisine is hearty and uses a lot of cream and eggs. The traditional dishes are often demanding in preparation. Many Poles allow themselves a generous amount of time to serve and enjoy their

festive meals, especially Christmas eve dinner or Easter breakfast which could take a number of days to prepare in their entirety.

BIGOS

PIEROGI

ZUREK

GOLONKO

SLEDZ

OSCYPEK

PACZEK

MAKOWIEC

THE BIGGEST CITIES IN POLAND

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly 260 kilometres (160 mi) from the Baltic

Sea and 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population is estimated at 1.711 million residents within a greater

metropolitan area of 2.666 million residents, making Warsaw the 9th most populous city proper in the European Union. Warsaw is an

Alpha– global city, a major international tourist destination and an important economic hub in Central Europe. It is also known as the

"phoenix city" because it has survived so many wars throughout its history. Most notably, the city had to be painstakingly rebuilt after the extensive damage it suffered in World War II, during which 85% of its buildings were destroyed. On 9 November 1940 the city was awarded

Poland's highest military decoration for heroism, the Virtuti Militari, during the Siege of Warsaw (1939).Warsaw is the source for naming

entities such as Warsaw Confederation, the Warsaw Pact, the Duchy of Warsaw, the Warsaw Convention, the Treaty of Warsaw, the Warsaw

Uprising, the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The Warszawianka is widely considered the unofficial anthem of the city.

Kraków is the second largest and one of the oldest

cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates

back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the

leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life and is one of Poland's most

important economic hubs. It was the capital of Poland from

1038 to 1569; the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from

1569 to 1596; Free City of Kraków from 1815 to 1846;

the Grand Duchy of Cracow from 1846 to 1918;

and Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser

Poland Voivodeship.

Wrocław situated on the River Oder in Lower Silesia, is the

largest city in western Poland.Wrocław is the historical

capital of Silesia, and today is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. At

various times it has been part of the Kingdom of

Poland, Bohemia, the Austrian Empire, Prussia, and Germany;

it has been again part of Poland since 1945, as a result of border changes after World War II. Its population in 2011

was 631,235, making it the fourth largest city in

Poland.

Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, the region

called Greater Poland. The population stood at 551,627 in 2010, while the continuous conurbation with Poznan

County among others is inhabited by 1 million people. Poznań is among the

oldest cities in Poland and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state in the tenth and eleventh

centuries. The Kingdom of Poland began in Poznan, namely on the natural island on the Warta river—very similar to the Île de la Cité in Paris. The first

rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral on the island. It was the first

Capital City of the Kingdom of Poland and also served as the capital in

the 13th century, hence the official name: The capital city of Poznan.

ZORY

Żory is a town and city county in Silesian

Voivodeship, Poland with 62,625 inhabitants

(2006). Previously it was in Katowice

Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located in

the historic Upper Silesia region about 30

kilometres (19 mi) southwest of Katowice.

SCHOOL COMPLEX NB 2 IN ZORY