Everything you need to know about Poland: 10. Lubusz Voivodeship

Now we will go to the western part of Poland

I have been to this province several times, mainly in Gorzów Wielkopolski and Zielona Góra. Every year in the second city, a festival of manga and anime fans is organized, but admits that it isn't too big, but they sell good cotton candy at this festival

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10. Lubusz

Lubusz Voivodeship, or Lubusz Province (PL: Województwo lubuskie) - is a voivodeship (province) in western Poland

It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Gorzów Wielkopolski and Zielona Góra Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. The province's name recalls the historic Lubusz Land (Lebus or Lubus), although parts of the voivodeship belong to the historic regions of Silesian, Greater Poland and Lusatia. Until 1945, it mainly formed the Neumark within the Prussian Province of Brandenburg.

The functions of regional capital are shared between two cities: Gorzów Wielkopolski and Zielona Góra. Gorzów serves as the seat of the centrally appointed voivode or governor, while Zielona Góra is the seat of the elected regional assembly (sejmik) and the executive elected by that assembly, headed by a marshal (PL: Marszałek).

The region is mainly flat, with many lakes and woodlands. In the south, around Zielona Góra, grapes are cultivated.

Lubusz Voivodeship borders West-Pomeranian Voivodeship to the north, Greater Poland Voivodeship to the east, Lower Silesian Voivodeship to the south, and Germany (Brandenburg and Saxony) to the west.

Only in Polish

Flag

Coat of arms

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HISTORY

By conquest the first leaders of the Polans, Mieszko I and especially Boleslaw I added a number of surrounding territories to the newly established core Polish state, and Lebus Land or Lubusz in Lusatia came under Polish rule. Part of the historic province was located on the western bank of the Oder River, where the main settlement Lubusz, later known as the German town of Lebus, was located.

In 1226 Lebus Land came under direct jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire, and around 1250 it was acquired by the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg. The Lebus Land stayed with Brandenburg throughout (as Electorate within the Holy Roman Empire until 1806, as Prussian Province of Brandenburg since 1815, with Prussia as part of the new Empire of Germany since 1871 and thereafter as a part of the newly created Weimar Republic.

In 1945, the conquest of eastern Germany by the Soviet Red Army was followed by the redrawing of Poland's borders. The east part of the Lubusz (Lebus) region was transferred to Poland, where in communist propaganda it was referred to as part of the "Regained" or "Recovered Territories". That part of the population which had not fled west of the Oder or been killed was rapidly expelled, and replaced by Poles from central and former eastern Poland.

In the administrative reforms of 1998, the original proposals made no provision for a separate Lubusz voivodeship – Gorzów would have been part of West-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Zielona Góra would have been in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, and other parts of the region were assigned to Greater Poland Voivodeship. However, as a result of popular protests, these proposals were eventually amended to increase the number of voivodeships to 16, leading to the creation of Lubusz Voivodeship.

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CITIES AND TOWNS

The voivodeship contains 43 cities and towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (as of 2019):

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ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION

Lubusz Voivodeship is divided into 14 counties (PL: Powiaty): 2 city counties and 12 land counties. These are further divided into 83 gminas.

The counties are listed in the following table (ordering within categories is by decreasing population).

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ECONOMY

The Gross domestic product (PL: PKB - Produkt krajowy brutto) of the province was 10.8 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 2.2% of Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 17,600 euros or 58% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 67% of the EU average.

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PROTECTED AREAS

Drawa National Park - partly in Greater Poland Voivodeship and West-Pomeranian Voivodeship
Ujście Warty National Park
Ujście Warty Landscape Park - partly in West-Pomeranian Voivodeship
Barlinek-Gorzów Landscape Park - partly in West-Pomeranian Voivodeship
Gryżyna Landscape Park
Krzesin Landscape Park
Łagów Landscape Park
Muskau Bend Landscape Park - UNESCO World Heritage Site
Przemęt Landscape Park - partly in Greater Poland Voivodeship
Pszczew Landscape Park - partly in Greater Poland Voivodeship