This article is about the present-day regional subdivision of Poland. For information on the general historical region to which it roughly corresponds, seeLesser Poland.
Lesser Poland Voivodeship (Polish:województwo małopolskie[vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔmawɔˈpɔlskʲɛ]ⓘ) is avoivodeship in southernPoland. It has an area of 15,108 square kilometres (5,833 sq mi), and a population of 3,404,863 (2019).[3] Its capital and largest city isKraków.
The province's name recalls the traditional name of a historic Polish region,Lesser Poland, or in Polish:Małopolska. The current Lesser Poland Voivodeship, however, covers only a small part of the broader ancient Małopolska region, which stretched far north, toRadom andSiedlce, also including such cities asLublin,Kielce,Częstochowa, andSosnowiec.
Thegross domestic product (GDP) of the province was €40.4 billion in 2018, accounting for 8.1% of the Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €19,700 or 65% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 72% of the EU average.[4] It's considered one of the wealthiest regions of Poland with high incomes, low unemployment, and a dynamic economy in Kraków.[5]
The region's economy includeshigh technology, banking, chemical andmetallurgical industries,coal,ore,food processing, and spirit andtobacco industries. The most industrialized city of the voivodeship isKraków. The largest regional enterprise operates here, the Tadeusz Sendzimir Steelworks inNowa Huta, employing 17,500 people. Another major industrial center is located in the west, in the neighborhood of Chrzanów (chiefly the production of railway engines) andOświęcim (chemical works). Kraków Park Technologiczny, aspecial 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 US$18.3 billion by the end of 2006.
A total of 130,000 students attend fifteen Kraków institutions of higher learning. TheJagiellonian University, the largest university in the city (44,200 students), was founded in 1364 asCracow Academy.Nicolaus Copernicus and Karol Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II) graduated from it. TheAGH University of Science and Technology (29,800 students) is considered to be the best technical university in Poland. The Academy of Economics, the Pedagogical University, theKraków University of Technology and the Agricultural Academy are also very highly regarded. There are also the Fine Arts Academy, the State Theatre University and the Musical Academy.Nowy Sącz 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 4,500 students. There are also two private higher schools in Tarnów.
In theEarly Middle Ages, the territory was inhabited by theVistulans, an oldPolish tribe. It formed part of Poland since its establishment in the 10th century, with the regional capitalKraków becoming the seat of one of Poland's oldest dioceses, est. in 1000, contributing to theChristianization of Poland. In 1038, Kraków became the capital of Poland by decision ofCasimir I the Restorer, retaining its role for several centuries with short-term breaks. It also became the location of theJagiellonian University, Poland's oldest university and one of world's oldest, established by KingCasimir III the Great. In theLate Middle Ages,Oświęcim andZator were ducal seats of local lines of thePiast dynasty. Following the late-18th-centuryPartitions of Poland, the region witnessed several uprisings against foreign rule, i.e. theKościuszko Uprising of 1794,Kraków uprising of 1846 andJanuary Uprising of 1863–1864, and Kraków remained one of the main cultural centers of partitioned Poland, taking advantage of the more relaxed policies of theAustrian partitioners than those of thePrussians andRussians. In theinterbellum, the region was part of reborn independent Poland.
Located in SouthernPoland, Lesser Poland is the warmest place in Poland with average summer temperatures between 23 °C (73 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F) during the day, often reaching 32 °C (90 °F) to 38 °C (100 °F) in July and August, the two warmest months of the year. The city ofTarnów, which is located inLesser Poland, is the hottest place in Poland all year round, average temperatures being around 25 °C (77 °F) during the day in the three summer months and 3 °C (37 °F) during the day in the three winter months. In the winter the weather patterns alter each year; usually winters are mildly cold with temperatures ranging from −7 °C (19 °F) to 4 °C (39 °F), but the winter season changes often to a more humid and warmer winter, or more continental and cold, depending on the many various wind patterns that affect Poland from different regions of the world.Błędów Desert, the only desert in Poland, is located in Lesser Poland, where temperatures can often reach 38 °C (100 °F) in the summer.
The voivodeship is rich in historic architecture ranging fromRomanesque andGothic toRenaissance,Baroque andArt Nouveau. Numerous towns possess preserved historic market squares and town halls, as in Kraków andTarnów. AtWadowice, birthplace of John Paul II (50 kilometers southwest of Kraków) is a museum dedicated to the late pope's childhood.
There are numerous World War II memorials in the province, including a museum at the site of the formerNazi concentration campsAuschwitz-I and Auschwitz-II-Birkenau, as well as theAuschwitz Jewish Center, visited annually by a million people. There are memorials at the sites of German-perpetrated massacres of Poles, German-operatedforced labour camps, etc.
In February 2020, the French region ofCentre-Val de Loire suspended its partnership with the Lesser Poland Voivodeship as a response to theanti-LGBT resolution passed by the voivodeship's authorities.[11][12][13] In September 2021, the voivodeships's authorities revoked the controversial declaration.[14]
^Banaś, Jan; Fijałkowska, Grażyna (2006).Miejsca Pamięci Narodowej na terenie Podgórza (in Polish). Kraków. p. 30.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022).The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p. 374.ISBN978-0-253-06089-1.
.svg)
