Subcarpathian Voivodeship is a

voivodeship A voivodeship ( ) or voivodate is the area administered by a voivode (governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in ...

, or

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, in the southeastern corner of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Its administrative capital and largest city is

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów is the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and the county seat, seat of Rzeszów C ...

. Along with the Marshal, it is governed by the Subcarpathian Regional Assembly. The name derives from the region's location near the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

, and the voivodeship comprises areas of two historic regions of Central Europe— Lesser Poland (western and northwestern counties) and Cherven Cities/ Red Ruthenia. It is bordered by

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). Its capital and largest city is Kraków. The province's name recalls the traditional name of a h ...

to the west,

Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship ( ), also known as Holy Cross Voivodeship, is a voivodeship (province) in southeastern Poland, in the historical region of Lesser Poland. The province's capital and largest city is Kielce. The voivodeship takes its ...

to the north-west,

Lublin Voivodeship Lublin Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in the southeastern part of the country, with its capital being the city of Lublin. The region is named after its largest city and regional capital, Lu ...

to the north,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

( Lviv Oblast and

Zakarpattia Oblast Zakarpattia Oblast (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпатська область), also referred to as simply Zakarpattia (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпаття; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Kárpátalja'') or Transcar ...

) to the east and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

(

Prešov Region The Prešov Region (, ; ), also Priashiv Region (, ), is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 of which have town status. The region was established in 1996 and is the mos ...

) to the south. It covers an area of , and has a population of 2,127,462 (as at 2019). The voivodeship is mostly hilly or mountainous (see Bieszczady, Beskidy); its northwestern corner is flat. It is one of the most wooded Polish voivodeships (35.9% of total area), within its borders is the entirety of Bieszczady National Park, and parts of Magura National Park.

History

In the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

, the territory was inhabited by the Vistulans and Lendians, old Polish tribes. It formed part of Poland since its first historic ruler Mieszko I, however, later on, at various times, portions of the region fell under the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

, the Golden Horde, and the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

, before Poland regained full control in the 14th century. Following the

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

the entire region was annexed by

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and included within the newly established Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. The oldest cities in the province, with over 1,000 years of history, are

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

and Sanok.

, Łańcut and

Tarnobrzeg Tarnobrzeg is a city in south-eastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland), on the east bank of the river Vistula, with 49,419 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (Polish: ''Województwo podkarpackie'') since ...

, with their castles and palaces, were important residential cities of the powerful Polish magnate families of Lubomirski, Potocki and Tarnowski. During the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

(1918–1939), territory of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship was part of the Lwów Voivodeship and belonged to "Poland B", the less-developed, more rural parts of Poland. To boost the local economy, the government of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

began in the mid-1930s a massive program of industrialization, known as the Central Industrial Region. The program created several major armament factories, including PZL Mielec, PZL Rzeszów, Huta Stalowa Wola, and factories in other Subcarpathian towns such as Dębica, Nowa Dęba, Sanok,

and Nowa Sarzyna. Following the joint German-Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, which started

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in September 1939, most of the current province was occupied by Nazi Germany with the eastern outskirts occupied by the Soviet Union, and the city of Przemyśl divided between the occupiers until 1941, and then the entire region occupied by Germany until 1944. Following the Soviet annexation of the regional capital of Lwów,

was chosen as the new regional capital and the Rzeszów Voivodeship was founded. The

was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former

Krosno Krosno (in full ''The Royal Free City of Krosno'', ) is a historical town and Krosno County, county in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland. The estimated population of the town is 47,140 inhabitants as of 2014. The functional ...

and (partially)

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...

and

Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local-government reforms adopted in 1998.

Government

Subcarpathian Voivodeship's government powers are shared between the

voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

(governor), the sejmik (regional assembly), and the

marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used fo ...

Cities and towns

The voivodeship contains 6 cities and 49 towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures as of 2019)

Administrative division

Subcarpathian Voivodeship is divided into 25 counties (

powiat A ''powiat'' (; ) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (Local administrative unit, LAU-1 ormerly Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-4 ...

s): 4 city counties and 21 land counties. These are further divided into 160

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...

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

Protected areas

Protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s in Subcarpathian Voivodeship include two

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

s and 11 Landscape Parks. These are listed below. * Bieszczady National Park (part of the East Carpathian Biosphere Reserve) * Magura National Park (partly in

) * Cisna-Wetlina Landscape Park * Czarnorzeki-Strzyżów Landscape Park * Jaśliska Landscape Park * Janów Forests Landscape Park (partly in

) * Pasmo Brzanki Landscape Park (partly in Lesser Poland Voivodeship) * Pogórze Przemyskie Landscape Park * Puszcza Solska Landscape Park (partly in Lublin Voivodeship) * San Valley Landscape Park * Słonne Mountains Landscape Park * South Roztocze Landscape Park (partly in Lublin Voivodeship)

Economy

The

Gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

(GDP) of the province was 19.4 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 3.9% of Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 15,100 euros or 50% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 59% of the EU average. Podkarpackie Voivodship is the province with the third lowest GDP per capita in Poland.

Transportation

The Rzeszów–Jasionka Airport is the province's international airport. The A4 and S19 highways pass through the province, with the S74 also planned for construction.

Demographics

Population according to 2002 census

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

– 2,079,208 (98.8%) ** Pogorzans *

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

– 3,271 (0.2%) **

Rusyns Rusyns, also known as Carpatho-Rusyns, Carpatho-Russians, Ruthenians, or Rusnaks, are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group from the Carpathian Rus', Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn language, Rusyn, an East Slavic lan ...

*** Lemkos – 147 *** Boykos *

Romani people {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

– 717 *

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...

– 129 *

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

– 128 *

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

– 116 *

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

– 108 * No answer – 19,055 (0.9%)

Most popular surnames in the region

# Mazur: 9,530 # Nowak: 9,301 # Baran: 8,020

Sights and tourism

There are three

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

s in the voivodeship: * Bieszczady National Park * Wooden churches of Southern Lesser Poland (three within the province) * Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region in Poland and Ukraine (four within the province) There are seven Historic Monuments of Poland in the voivodeship: *World's oldest oil field in Bóbrka *

Krasiczyn Castle Krasiczyn Castle () is a Renaissance castle à la fortezza in Krasiczyn, southeastern Poland. It stands on a lowland at the right bank of the San (river), San River, along the Przemyśl-Sanok route and some 10 kilometres southwest of Przemyśl. Ac ...

*Bernardine Monastery in Leżajsk with the famous

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

pipe organs * Łańcut Castle *Old Town of

* Przemyśl Fortress * St. Paraskevi Church, Radruż Other preserved historic old towns include

, nicknamed "Little Kraków",

Jarosław Jarosław (; , ; ; ) is a town in southeastern Poland, situated on the San (river), San River. The town had 35,475 inhabitants in 2023. It is the capital of Jarosław County in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. History Jarosław is located in the ...

, Sanok. In Jarosław, Przemyśl and Rzeszów there are underground tourist routes in historic cellars under the old town market squares. There are numerous castles and palaces in the province, including the Royal Castles in

and Sanok, and former noble castles and palaces in

Baranów Sandomierski Baranów Sandomierski is a small town in southern Poland, in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodship, Tarnobrzeg County on the Vistula River, with 1,420 inhabitants as of December 2021. Baranów lies near the Vistula river, along ...

Dukla Dukla is a town and an eponymous municipality in southeastern Poland, in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 2,017. The total area of the commune is . Dukla belongs to Lesser Poland, and until the Pa ...

and Tyczyn. There are five

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...

s: Horyniec-Zdrój, Iwonicz-Zdrój, Polańczyk, Rymanów-Zdrój, Solina. There are several museums, including the National Museum in Przemyśl and Regional Museum in Rzeszów. The more unique museums include the Museum of Folk Architecture in Sanok, Markowa Ulma-Family Museum of Poles Who Saved Jews in World War II, Museum of Oil and Gas Industry at the location of the world's oldest oil field in Bóbrka, and Museum of the Polish

Sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

Industry in

. There are several monuments and memorials to inventor Ignacy Łukasiewicz, pioneer of the global oil industry, in places where he studied and worked, including Bóbrka,

, Łańcut, Jasło and

. There are memorials to the Hungarian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

poet Bálint Balassi in Odrzykoń, Nowy Żmigród and Rymanów, where he stayed at various times.

Cuisine

In addition to traditional nationwide Polish cuisine, Subcarpathian Voivodeship is known for its variety of regional and local

traditional food Traditional foods are foods and Dish (food), dishes that are passed on through generations or which have been consumed for many generations. Traditional foods and dishes are traditional in nature, and may have a historic precedent in a national ...

s, which include especially various

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

s, meat products (incl. various types of kiełbasa,

bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

and salceson), cakes,

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

s and various dishes and meals, officially protected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland. There are local types of

pierogi Pierogi ( ; ) are filled dumplings made by wrapping Leavening, unleavened dough around a Stuffing, filling and cooked in boiling water. They are occasionally flavored with a savory or sweet garnish. Typical fillings include potato, cheese, ...

, gołąbki,

barszcz Borscht () is a sour soup, made with meat Stock (food), stock, vegetables and seasonings, common in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. In English, the word ''borscht'' is most often associated with the soup's variant of Ukraine, Ukrainian orig ...

and other

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...

Sports

Motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

enjoy the largest following in the province. Resovia and Stal Rzeszów contest the Rzeszów Derby, one of the fiercest and most contested in Poland, with over 90 games (as of May 2024).

Subcarpathia landscape pictures

File:Ratusz-POL, Rzeszów.jpg, Rzeszów

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

File:Rzeszów, zamek, 1600, 1903-1906 danz 009.jpg,

Palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

of Lubomirski family in

File:Łańcut Castle Front.jpg, Łańcut Castle Jasło, pałac Sroczyńskich (HB7).jpg, Jasło Palace File:Huwniki Widok.jpg, Huwniki Bobrka Ignacy Lukasiewicz Monument 2018 P02.jpg, Ignacy Łukasiewicz Monument in Bóbrka File:2015, Przemyśl, Zamek Kazimierzowski (02).jpg, Royal Casimir Castle in

File:Synagoga lesko.jpg, Lesko synagogue File:2014 Tarnobrzeg, Zamek Tarnowskich 02.JPG, Tarnowski Palace in

File:Jarosław1.JPG,

town hall File:20180816 Zamek w Baranowie Sandomierskim 1545 8967 DxO.jpg, Baranów Sandomierski Castle File:Solina Poland.jpg, Solina Lake File:Solina lake view.jpg, Solina seen from the distance File:Sine Wiry 05.jpg, Wetlina River File:Two lynxes playing.jpg, Lynx File:PL-PK Blizne, kościół Wszystkich Świętych 2014-07-26--09-26-59-001.jpg, Church of All Saints in Blizne, a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

File:Przeclaw js.jpg, Przecław File:Wisłok Wielki cerkiew.JPG, Wisłok Wielki File:Pogórze zach. skansen Sanok.jpg, Open air museum in Sanok File:San widziany z Zamku Sobień.JPG, San River File:Tarnica winter.JPG, Tarnica Mountain File:Sanockie nafta pompa.jpg, A historic oil well File:20110827 Black Hawk Radom Air Show 9577.jpg, Black Hawk helicopters are produced by PZL Mielec File:Autosan A1212C Eurolider - Transexpo 2009.jpg, Autosan bus and coach manufacturer has its headquarters in Sanok File:Zapora Solińska - panoramio.jpg, Solina Dam is the largest dam in Poland

Curiosities

*In the 17th century, there was a sizeable Scottish community in

. There is a monument to in Krosno, Scottish immigrant, the city's wealthiest 17th-century merchant. *In 1711,

was the place of refuge of Hungarian leader Francis II Rákóczi and his court, including essayist Kelemen Mikes, after the fall of the Rákóczi's War of Independence against

References

* '

Notes

External links

Subcarpathia photo gallery
*
Subcarpathian Voivodeship official website
*
Podkarpacki Urząd Wojewódzki
Official website *
The castles and palaces of Subcarpathian province
{{Authority control 1999 establishments in Poland States and territories established in 1999 Rusyn communities