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West Pomeranian Voivodeship

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West Pomeranian Voivodeship[a] is a voivodeship (province) in northwestern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Szczecin.[3] Its area equals 22,892.48 km2 (8,838.84 sq mi),[4] and in 2021, it was inhabited by 1,682,003 people.[5]

West Pomeranian Voivodeship
Województwo zachodniopomorskie
Voivodeship
Flag of West Pomeranian Voivodeship
Flag
Coat of arms of West Pomeranian Voivodeship
Coat of arms
Official logo of West Pomeranian Voivodeship
Brandmark
Location within Poland.
Location within Poland.
Division into counties.
Division into counties.
Coordinates (Szczecin): 53°25′N 14°35′E / 53.417°N 14.583°E / 53.417; 14.583
Country Poland
Capital Szczecin
Counties
3 city counties 18 land counties
Government
 • BodyExecutive board
 • VoivodeAdam Rudawski
 • MarshalOlgierd Geblewicz
 • EPLubusz and West Pomeranian
Area
 • Total
22,892.48 km2 (8,838.84 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)
 • Total
1,682,003
 • Density73/km2 (190/sq mi)
GDP
[1]
 • Total€20.994 billion
 • Per capita€12,500
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codePL-32
PL-ZP
Vehicle registrationZ
HDI (2019)0.869[2]
very high · 11th
Primary airportSolidarity Szczecin–Goleniów Airport
Highways
Websiteszczecin.uw.gov.pl

It was established on 1 January 1999, out of the former Szczecin and Koszalin Voivodeships and parts of Gorzów, Piła and Słupsk Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. It borders on Pomeranian Voivodeship to the east, Greater Poland Voivodeship to the southeast, Lubusz Voivodeship to the south, the German federal-states of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and Brandenburg to the west, and the Baltic Sea to the north.[3]

Geography and tourism

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Viking Festival in Wolin

West Pomeranian Voivodeship is the fifth largest voivodeship of Poland in terms of area. The largest cities in the region are the capital Szczecin, as well as Koszalin, Stargard, Kołobrzeg and Świnoujście.

This is a picturesque region of the Baltic Sea coast, with many beaches, lakes and woodlands. Szczecin, Świnoujście and Police are important ports. Other major seaside towns include Międzyzdroje, Dziwnów, Kołobrzeg, and Mielno.

West Pomerania is considered one of the greenest regions of Poland, and one of the most attractive for tourists. It is characterized by incredible diversity of the landscape: beaches, hundreds of lakes, and forests full of wildlife (e.g. Wkrzanska Forest), spreading mainly up the hills of the glacial lakes areas, and Poland's two largest islands, Wolin and Usedom.

 
Church of the Virgin Mary, Queen of the World, in Stargard

West Pomerania is also rich in various forms and styles of architecture that were built during the Middle Ages as well as the Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. Darłowo, the birthplace of Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, contains a preserved old town with the Gothic Our Lady of Częstochowa church, which holds the king's sarcophagus. The St. Mary's Church in Stargard and Saint John Co-Cathedral in Kamień Pomorski are considered two of the most precious Gothic churches of entire Poland, and as such are listed as Historic Monuments of Poland,[6][7] whereas the Saint Stanislaus Kostka church in Chwarszczany is a nationally unique former Knights Templar church. In Cedynia, the westernmost town of Poland, there is a memorial commemorating the Battle of Cedynia of 972, the oldest recorded battle in the history of Poland. The Świnoujście Lighthouse is the tallest brick lighthouse in the world. The War Cemetery in Stargard is the burial place of over 5,000 Allied soldiers and prisoners of war from both world wars, including Polish, French, Serbian/Yugoslav, Russian/Soviet, Italian, Romanian, Belgian, British, Moroccan, Portuguese and Dutch. There are also numerous World War II memorials, including memorials to Allied POWs from World War II at the former Oflag II-B, Oflag II-D and Stalag Luft IV German POW camps in Choszczno, Kłomino and Tychowo, and a memorial to British pilots of the No. 617 Squadron RAF shot down by Germany in Karsibór, Świnoujście.

There is a diverse repertoire of theaters, festivals, museums and galleries. During a few-day long annual Sea Festival in Szczecin, a number of free open-air concerts take place. In Świnoujście during the summer, the FAMA Academic Youth Arts Festival takes place – an event with several years of tradition, which attracts not only young people but also older alumni. In Międzyzdroje, there is a Festival Of The Stars, which draws many popular actors. In Wolin, a Viking Festival takes place, which draws "Vikings" from all across Europe.

Another draw to the area is a wide array of health resorts. Brine and peloid, discovered in the 19th century, together with geothermal water resources, are popular attractions in Świnoujście, Kamień Pomorski and Połczyn Zdrój.

A notable phenomenon on a worldly scale is the Crooked Forest outside the town of Gryfino.

Cities and towns

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Ducal Castle, Szczecin
 
Main post office, Koszalin
 
Market Square and City Hall, Stargard
 
Beach, Kołobrzeg
 
Historic townhouses, Świnoujście
 
Town Hall, Szczecinek
 
Oder River in Police

The voivodeship contains five cities and 61 towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 2019):[8]

Cities (governed by a city mayor or prezydent miasta):
  1. Szczecin (402,067)
  2. Koszalin (107,225)
  3. Stargard (67,795)
  4. Kołobrzeg (46,309)
  5. Świnoujście (40,883)

Towns:

  1. Szczecinek (40,016)
  2. Police (32,575)
  3. Wałcz (25,312)
  4. Białogard (24,250)
  5. Goleniów (22,284)
  6. Gryfino (21,221)
  7. Nowogard (16,603)
  8. Gryfice (16,524)
  9. Świdwin (15,533)
  10. Choszczno (15,213)
  11. Dębno (13,775)
  12. Barlinek (13,752)
  13. Darłowo (13,710)
  14. Złocieniec (12,901)
  15. Pyrzyce (12,581)
  16. Sławno (12,511)
  17. Drawsko Pomorskie (11,597)
  18. Myślibórz (11,151)
  19. Łobez (10,167)
  20. Trzebiatów (9,986)
  21. Kamień Pomorski (8,807)
  22. Połczyn-Zdrój (8,073)
  23. Chojna (7,375)
  24. Czaplinek (7,109)
  25. Sianów (6,621)
  26. Karlino (5,945)
  27. Międzyzdroje (5,376)
  28. Borne Sulinowo (5,116)
  29. Wolin (4,878)
  30. Kalisz Pomorski (4,366)
  31. Resko (4,217)
  32. Bobolice (3,991)
  33. Płoty (3,965)
  34. Lipiany (3,922)
  35. Barwice (3,715)
  36. Mieszkowice (3,647)
  37. Maszewo (3,357)
  38. Chociwel (3,177)
  39. Mirosławiec (3,081)
  40. Mielno (2,956)
  41. Polanów (2,917)
  42. Recz (2,898)
  43. Węgorzyno (2,816)
  44. Dziwnów (2,663)
  45. Golczewo (2,660)
  46. Pełczyce (2,583)
  47. Tychowo (2,520)
  48. Stepnica (2,465)
  49. Gościno (2,430)
  50. Człopa (2,322)
  51. Dobra (2,307)
  52. Drawno (2,280)
  53. Dobrzany (2,267)
  54. Trzcińsko-Zdrój (2,263)
  55. Biały Bór (2,185)
  56. Tuczno (1,934)
  57. Ińsko (1,924)
  58. Moryń (1,630)
  59. Cedynia (1,555)
  60. Suchań (1,471)
  61. Nowe Warpno (1,190)

The Polish districts of the historical region Western Pomerania (the three westernmost districts of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship) had a population of about 520,000 in 2012 (cities of Szczecin, Świnoujście and Police County combined) – while the German districts had a population of about 470,000 in 2012 (Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald combined). Overall, about 1 million people live in the historical region of Western Pomerania today, while the Szczecin agglomeration reaches even further.

Administrative division

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West Pomeranian Voivodeship is divided into 21 counties (powiats): three city counties and 18 land counties. These are further divided into 114 gminas.

The counties are listed in the following table (ordering within categories is by decreasing population in 2019):[8]

English and
Polish names 		Area
(km2) 		Population
(2019) 		Seat Other towns Total
gminas
City counties
Szczecin 301 402,067 1
Koszalin 84 107,225 1
Świnoujście 197 40,883 1
Land counties
Stargard County
powiat stargardzki 		1,520 120,088 Stargard Chociwel, Dobrzany, Ińsko, Suchań 10
Gryfino County
powiat gryfiński 		1,870 82,258 Gryfino Chojna, Mieszkowice, Trzcińsko-Zdrój, Cedynia, Moryń 9
Goleniów County
powiat goleniowski 		1,617 82,418 Goleniów Nowogard, Maszewo, Stepnica 6
Szczecinek County
powiat szczecinecki 		1,765 77,731 Szczecinek Borne Sulinowo, Barwice, Biały Bór 6
Kołobrzeg County
powiat kołobrzeski 		726 79,470 Kołobrzeg Gościno 7
Police County
powiat policki 		664 79,967 Police Nowe Warpno 4
Myślibórz County
powiat myśliborski 		1,182 65,999 Myślibórz Barlinek, Dębno 5
Koszalin County
powiat koszaliński 		1,669 66,373 Koszalin * Sianów, Bobolice, Polanów, Mielno 8
Gryfice County
powiat gryficki 		1,018 60,474 Gryfice Trzebiatów, Płoty 6
Drawsko County
powiat drawski 		1,764 57,171 Drawsko Pomorskie Złocieniec, Czaplinek, Kalisz Pomorski 6
Sławno County
powiat sławieński 		1,044 56,231 Sławno Darłowo 6
Wałcz County
powiat wałecki 		1,415 53,325 Wałcz Mirosławiec, Człopa, Tuczno 5
Choszczno County
powiat choszczeński 		1,328 48,419 Choszczno Recz, Pełczyce, Drawno 6
Białogard County
powiat białogardzki 		845 47,697 Białogard Karlino, Tychowo 4
Świdwin County
powiat świdwiński 		1,093 46,997 Świdwin Połczyn-Zdrój 6
Kamień County
powiat kamieński 		1,007 47,115 Kamień Pomorski Międzyzdroje, Wolin, Dziwnów, Golczewo 6
Pyrzyce County
powiat pyrzycki 		726 39,482 Pyrzyce Lipiany 6
Łobez County
powiat łobeski 		1,066 36,954 Łobez Resko, Węgorzyno, Dobra 5
   NOTE: * seat not part of the county

Protected areas

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Wolin National Park
 
Drawa National Park

Protected areas in West Pomeranian Voivodeship include two National Parks and seven Landscape Parks. These are listed below.

Cuisine

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Apart from nationwide Polish cuisine, the region has its local traditional foods and beverages. The voivodeship is notable for production of honey, with several varieties listed as traditional foods by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland.

As a coastal province, there are several local fish dishes, including the Szczecin-style and Kołobrzeg-style herring. Szczecinek krówki, Szczecin gingerbread and Choszczno strucla (type of poppy seed roll) are local delicacies.

Traditional beverages include mead, produced in Cedynia and Wolin, beer from Lipiany and Szczecin and nalewka from Dębina.

Demographics

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Historical population
YearPop.±%
19881,662,563—    
20021,698,214+2.1%
20111,722,885+1.5%
20211,657,716−3.8%
Source: [9]

After Germany's defeat in World War II, the region became again part of Poland by way of the Potsdam Agreement, which created territorial changes demanded by the Soviet Union.

In 1948, 67 percent of the populace originated from central Poland, Greater Poland and Pomerelia while 25 percent came from the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. Another 6 percent returned to Poland from Western Europe. About 50,000 Ukrainians were forcefully resettled to West Pomerania in the Operation Vistula in 1947.[10]

In the 16th and 17th centuries, some Scots settled in several towns of the current West Pomeranian Voivodeship, i.e. Wałcz, Biały Bór, Człopa and Gryfice,[11] whereas in the 18th century French Huguenots settled in Szczecin and Gryfino.[12][13]

Education and science

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Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin

Economy

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The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 18.3 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 3.7% of Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 17,700 euros or 59% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 67% of the EU average.[14]

The Świnoujście LNG terminal, Poland's main liquefied natural gas import terminal, is located in the province.

Industrial, science and technology parks

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Transportation

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Expressway S3 near Goleniów

There are two main international road routes that pass through the voivodeship: National road 3 (Poland) Świnoujście-Szczecin-Gorzów Wielkopolski-Zielona Góra-Legnica-Czech border (part of European route E65 from Swedish Malmö to Chaniá in Greece) and National road 6 (Poland) Szczecin-Koszalin-Słupsk-Gdańsk (part of European route E28 from Berlin to Minsk). Most of the National road 3 in the voivodeship is in a standard of an expressway (Expressway S3 (Poland)). The National road 6 between German border and Rzęśnica is in the standard of autostrada (A6 autostrada (Poland)), whereas part between Rzęścnica and Goleniów and bypasses of Goleniów and Nowogard are in standards of an expressway (Expressway S6 (Poland)). Other important national roads are National road 10 (Poland) (German border-Szczecin-Piła-Bydgoscz-Toruń-Płońsk) and National road 11 (Poland) (Kołobrzeg-Koszalin-Piła-Poznań-Bytom). Apart from the above, some other national roads are located in the voivodeship. The voivodeship possesses also a well-developed network of regional roads.

Main railways in the province are line no. 351 Szczecin-Poznań, line no. 273 Szczecin-Wrocław (so-called "Odra railway"), line no. 202 Stargard-Gdańsk, line no. 401 Szczecin-Świnoujście and line no. 404 Kołobrzeg-Szczecinek. The main railway stations of the province are Szczecin main station, Stargard and Koszalin. The stations are served by fast PKP Intercity trains which connect them with the capital Warsaw, as well as other major Polish cities. In addition to these fast express services, inter-regional trains and intra-regional trains are operated by the firm Przewozy Regionalne. Szczecin main station possesses international train connections with Berlin, Schwerin and Lübeck (operated by DB Regio). Świnoujście has a direct train connection with Stralsund, which is operated by Usedomer Bäderbahn.

The only domestic and international airport in West Pomeranian Voivodeship is Szczecin-Goleniów "Solidarność" Airport. Also, part of the runway of an abandoned airport in Bagicz (near Kołobrzeg) was converted to an airport licensed to service planes carrying not more than 20 passengers on board.

Sports

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Florian Krygier Stadium, home venue of Pogoń Szczecin

Football and basketball enjoy the largest following in the voivodeship.

Professional sports teams
Club Sport League Trophies
Wilki Morskie Szczecin Basketball (men's) Polish Basketball League 1 Polish Championship (2023)
Spójnia Stargard Basketball (men's) Polish Basketball League 0
SKK Kotwica Kołobrzeg Basketball (men's) 1 Liga 1 Polish Cup (2009)
KPS Chemik Police Volleyball (women's) Tauron Liga 11 Polish Championships
10 Polish Cups
Pogoń Szczecin Football (men's) Ekstraklasa 0
Pogoń Szczecin Football (women's) Ekstraliga 1 Polish Championship (2024)
Kotwica Kołobrzeg Football (men's) I liga 0
Świt Szczecin Football (men's) II liga 0
AZS Politechnika Koszalin Handball (women's) Superliga 1 Polish Cup (2008)
Pogoń Szczecin Handball (women's) Liga Centralna 3 Polish Championships (1983, 1986, 1991)
4 Polish Cups
Pogoń Szczecin Handball (men's) Liga Centralna 0

Curiosities

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See also

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to West Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Notes

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  1. ^ Polish: województwo zachodniopomorskie, pronounced [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ zaˌxɔdɲɔpɔˈmɔrskʲɛ] ⓘ.

References

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  1. ^ "EU regions by GDP, Eurostat". Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Subnational HDI - Global Data Lab". globaldatalab.org. Radboud University Nijmegen. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  3. ^ a b Ustawa z dnia 24 lipca 1998 r. o wprowadzeniu zasadniczego trójstopniowego podziału terytorialnego państwa (Dz.U. z 1998 r. nr 96, poz. 603).
  4. ^ Powierzchnia i ludność w przekroju terytorialnym w 2014 r. (stan z 31 grudnia 2013). Warsaw: Główny Urząd Statystyczny, 2014.
  5. ^ "Baza Demografia". demografia.stat.gov.pl.
  6. ^ Rozporządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 17 września 2010 r. w sprawie uznania za pomnik historii "Stargard Szczeciński - zespół kościoła pod wezwaniem Najświętszej Marii Panny Królowej Świata oraz średniowieczne mury obronne miasta", Dz. U., 2010, vol. 184, No. 1236
  7. ^ Rozporządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 25 sierpnia 2005 r. w sprawie uznania za pomnik historii "Kamień Pomorski - zespół katedralny", Dz. U., 2005, vol. 167, No. 1401
  8. ^ a b GUS. "Population. Size and structure and vital statistics in Poland by territorial division in 2019. As of 30th June". stat.gov.pl. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  9. ^ "Statistics Poland - National Censuses".
  10. ^ Alina Hutnikiewicz: "Proces Osadnictwa na Pomorzu Zachodnim po 1945 r" in Zeszyty Kulickie 5: Rodzinne Pomorze – dawniej i dziś, pp. 67 ff. (in Polish)
  11. ^ Wijaczka, Jacek (2010). "Szkoci". In Kopczyński, Michał; Tygielski, Wojciech (eds.). Pod wspólnym niebem. Narody dawnej Rzeczypospolitej (in Polish). Warszawa: Muzeum Historii Polski, Bellona. pp. 202, 204. ISBN 978-83-11-11724-2.
  12. ^ Skrycki, Radosław (2011). "Z okresu wojny i pokoju – "francuskie" miejsca w Szczecinie z XVIII i XIX wieku". In Rembacka, Katarzyna (ed.). Szczecin i jego miejsca. Trzecia Konferencja Edukacyjna, 10 XII 2010 r. (in Polish). Szczecin. p. 95. ISBN 978-83-61233-45-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ "Kalendarium". Gryfino.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  14. ^ "Regional GDP per capita ranged from 30% to 263% of the EU average in 2018". Eurostat.
  15. ^ "Zachodniopomorskie/ XXVIII Festiwal Słowian i Wikingów – od czwartku". Nauka w Polsce (in Polish). 3 August 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
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