Our country - Poland

COUNTRY
President: Lech Kaczy?ski
Prime Minister: Donald Tusk

Poland - officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726).
In 1999 Poland was divided into 16 provinces know as voivodeships with the capital – Warsaw. Main cities: Cracow, ?ód?, Wroc?aw, Pozna?, Gda?sk, Szczecin, Katowice, Lublin Bydgoszcz, Toru?, Olsztyn, Bia?ystok, Rzeszów, Opole and Kielce.

NATIONAL FLAG
The flag of Poland consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red. The two colors are defined in the Polish constitution as the national colors. Mazurek D?browskiego is the national anthem of Poland. The original lyrics authored by Wybicki was a poem consisting of six stanzas and a chorus. The main theme of the poem is the idea that was novel in the times of early nationalisms based on centralized nation-states that the lack of political sovereignty does not preclude the existence of a nation.
 
 
POPULATION
The Poles are Slavs. They use Polish – the language classified as one of Slavonic language family. Polish is an official language of the Polish Republic. However, the legal system guarantees all ethnic minorities, especially in the regions of greater concentration, that they can use their own languages. Poland is inhabited by 38,1 million people (2008) including 18,7 mln of males and 19,9 mln of females. 61% of population live in urban areas and 38,2% live in rural areas. In terms of density Poland is ranked 8th in Europe and 29th in the world , which makes 0,7% of the world’s population.

NATIONAL DAY
• 1st May – Labour Day
• 2nd May - Flag Day
• Constitution of May 3rd
• 15th August – the Day of the Polish Army
• 11th November – Independence Day

RELIGION
The term „religion” refers to the Roman Catholicism, because the main part of the polish society constitutes catholic. They’re the biggest religion community in Poland and Religion Study is a subject at school (although not compulsory). Apart from the catholic community in Poland there are also Greek Catholics, Orthodox, Armenians and Protestants.
On 16 October 1978 the first Pope from Poland was elected by the College of Cardinals. The new pope was Cardinal Karol Wojty?a (May 18, 1920 – April 5, 2005), who had taken the name of John Paul II. He was extremely famous in Poland and abroad, and he owed his fame to his pilgrimages during the whole pontiff. John Paul II was known as a sympathizer of ecumenism and figured much in the communism’s down fall.

LITERATURE
Next literary epochs brought fast progress of Polish prose and poetry, as a result four authors were rewarded with the Nobel prize:  Henryk Sienkiewicz (1905) - epic, novel „Quo vadis”, W?adys?aw Stanis?aw Reymont – (1924) - novel „Ch?opi”, Czes?aw Mi?osz (1980) – poetry, Wis?awa Szymborska (1996) – poetry. Thanks to them Polish literature is widely known. „Quo Vadis” recived several film adaptations and has been translated into almost all languages, same as the poems by Wis?awa Szymborska and Czes?aw Mi?osz; the last is a poet, interpreter and a lecturer of Slavonic literatures in the USA.

MUSIC
The most famous Polish composers: Fryderyk Chopin, Stanis?aw Moniuszko, Krzysztof Penderecki, Zbigniew Preisner,

MONUMENTS
Poland is a country with rich antique architecture. The most precious monumnets are on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. They come from such cities like: Zamo??, Toru?, Malbork, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Wroc?aw. The most spectacular ones are:

in Cracow: Wawel, Cathedral, Mary's Church, Sukiennice, Barbican, „Wieliczka” Salt Mine
 

in Warsaw: Royal Castle, Mermaid, Wilanów PalaceThe Old Town, Fryderyk Chopin Monument, The Royal Baths Park.

Detail
Pustynia Bledowska popularly called "Polish Sahara", is the biggest area of quicksands in Poland and equally the largest area of inland sands' occurrence in Europe. Also considered as the "only natural desert in Europe".