Lesser Poland Voivodeship
Lesser Poland Voivodeship (
Polish:
województwo małopolskie) is an administrative region or
voivodeship in southern
Poland. It has an area of 15,100 square kilometers, and a population of 3,253,000.
It was created on
January 1,
1999 out of the former
Kraków,
Tarnów,
Nowy Sącz and parts of
Bielsko-Biała and
Katowice voivodeships, pursuant to the Local Government Reorganization Act of 1998. The voivodeship's name recalls the region's traditional name,
Małopolska.
It is bounded on the north by the
Góry Świętokrzyskie (
Świętokrzyskie Mountains), on the west by the
Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska (a broad range of hills stretching from
Kraków to
Częstochowa), and on the south by the
Tatra,
Pieniny and
Beskidy Mountains.
It is an ancient region and, together with
Greater Poland (
Wielkopolska) and
Silesia (
Śląsk), formed the early
medieval Polish state.
Almost all of
Lesser Poland lies in the
Vistula river catchment area. The city of Kraków was one of the
European Cities of Culture of the year
2000. Kraków has railway and road connections with
Katowice (expressway),
Warsaw,
Wrocław and
Rzeszów. It lies at the crossroads of major international routes linking
Dresden with
Kyiv, and
Gdańsk with
Budapest. The second largest
international airport in Poland (after
Warsaw), the
John Paul II International Airport, is located here.
Economy
The region's economy includes high technology, banking, chemical and metallurgical industries,
coal,
ore, food processing, and spirit and
tobacco industries. The most industrialised city of the voivodeship is
Kraków. The largest regional enterprise operates here, the Tadeusz Sendzimir Steelworks in
Nowa Huta, employing 17,000 people. Another major industrial center is located in the west, in the neighbourhood of Chrzanów (chiefly the production of railway engines) and
Oświęcim (chemical works). Kraków Park Technologiczny, a
Special Economic Zone, has been established within the voivodeship. There are almost 210,000 registered economic entities operating in the voivodeship, mostly small and medium-sized, of which 234 belong to the state-owned sector. Foreign investment, growing in the region, reached approximately
USD 1.5 billion by the end of
1997.
Universities
102,000 students attend fifteen Kraków institutions of higher learning. The
Jagiellonian University, the largest university in the city (27,000 students), was founded in
1364 as
Cracow Academy.
Nicolaus Copernicus and Karol Wojtyła (
Pope John Paul II) graduated from it. The
AGH University of Science and Technology (18,700 students) is considered to be the best technical university in Poland. The Academy of Economics, the Pedagogical University, the Kraków Technical University and the Agricultural Academy are also very highly regarded. There are also the Fine Arts Academy, the State Theatre Universityand the Musical Academy.
Nowy Sacz has become a major educational center in the region thanks to its Higher School of Business and Administration, with an American curriculum, founded in
1992. The school has 2,200 students. There are also two private higher schools in Tarnów.
Tourism
Four national parks and numerous reserves have been established in the voivodeship to protect the environment of Lesser Poland. The region has areas for tourism and recreation, including
Zakopane (Poland's most popular winter resort) and the Tatra,
Pieniny and Beskidy Mountains. The natural landscape features many historic sites. The salt mine at
Wieliczka, the pilgrimage town of
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, and
Kraków's Old Town are ranked by
UNESCO among the most precious sites of world heritage. At
Wadowice, birthplace of John Paul II (50 kilometers southwest of Kraków) is a museum dedicated to the late Pope's childhood. The area of
Oświęcim, with the former
Nazi concentration camps
Auschwitz-I and Auschwitz-II-Birkenau, is visited annually by half a million people. Another tourist destination is the town of
Bochnia with its salt mine, Europe's oldest.
Administrative division
#
Kraków City County#
Nowy Sącz City County#
Tarnów City County#
Bochnia County, powiat bocheński,
Bochnia #
Brzesko County, powiat brzeski,
Brzesko #
Chrzanów County, powiat chrzanowski,
Chrzanów #
Dąbrowa Tarnowska County, powiat dąbrowski,
Dąbrowa Tarnowska #
Gorlice County, powiat gorlicki,
Gorlice #
Kraków County, powiat krakowski, Kraków#
Limanowa County, powiat limanowski,
Limanowa #
Miechów County, powiat miechowski,
Miechów #
Myślenice County, powiat myślenicki,
Myślenice #
Nowy Sącz County, powiat nowosądecki,
Nowy Sącz #
Nowy Targ County, powiat nowotarski,
Nowy Targ #
Olkusz County, powiat olkuski,
Olkusz #
Oświęcim County, powiat oświęcimski,
Oświęcim #
Proszowice County, powiat proszowicki,
Proszowice #
Sucha Beskidzka County, powiat suski,
Sucha Beskidzka #
Tarnów County, powiat tarnowski,
Tarnów #
Tatra County, powiat tatrzański,
Zakopane #
Wadowice County, powiat wadowicki,
Wadowice #
Wieliczka County, powiat wielicki,
WieliczkaMajor cities and towns
Capital city: Kraków
Major cities and towns: (population in 1995):
*
Kraków (745,400);
*
Tarnów (121,500);
*
Nowy Sącz (82,100);
*
Oświęcim (44,400);
*
Chrzanów (43,100);
*
Nowy Targ (34,000);
*
Gorlice (30,200);
*
Zakopane (30,000);
*
Bochnia (29,600).
*
Skawina (24,100);
*
Andrychów (23,100);
Most popular surnames in the region
* 1.
Nowak : 23,671
* 2.
Wójcik : 13,347
* 3.
Zając : 10,206
*
Małopolskie Voivodship Official Site*
Photo- and Topographic Maps of the whole region*
Agency for Regional Development of Lesser Poland - MARR*
Tourism Information of Małopolskie Voivodship*
Małopolska Province invites*
General statistics*
Photos of Krakow, Tatry, Zakopane*
Info about the Lesser Poland - Malopolska Province
