1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
2.
A8 autostrada (Poland)
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The A8 motorway or Wrocław Motorway Bypass or Autostrada A8 is a 26. 8-kilometre motorway bypass of the city of Wrocław, Poland. The motorway includes the 122-metre high Rędziński Bridge over the Oder river, initial plans of the A8 motorway ran the entire route between Wrocław and Łódź, with a southern portion of the road continuing towards the Czech Republic to provide access to Prague. In 2000, the motorway was truncated to its current length bypassing the western and northern portions of Wroclaw, in the future, the connection to Warsaw will be provided by the lower standard Expressway S8. During the campaign for the 2007 parliamentary elections, the Civic Platform party pledged to upgrade the connection to motorway standard, thus extending the A8 motorway. However, after forming a government following its victory, the party abandoned the idea, the motorway opened to traffic on 31 August 2011. On 1 September 2011, the Ministry of Infrastructure published draft regulation on the motorways tolling, according to the ministry, the A8 motorway will not be subject to tolling for motorists. European route E67 Official page of the project Route map on the project page Map of the motorway
A8 autostrada (Poland)
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Rędziński Bridge
A8 autostrada (Poland)
–
Autostrada A8
A8 autostrada (Poland)
A8 autostrada (Poland)
3.
Oder
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The Oder is a river in Central Europe. It rises in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, the river ultimately flows into the Szczecin Lagoon north of Szczecin and then into three branches that empty into the Gulf of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea. Ptolemy knew the modern Oder as the Συήβος – a name derived from the Suebi. While he also refers to an outlet in the area as the Οὐιαδούα Ouiadoua, the name Suebos may be preserved in the modern name of the Świna river – an outlet from the Szczecin Lagoon to the Baltic. In the Old Church Slavonic language, the name of the river is Vjodr, the Oder is 854 kilometres long,112 km in the Czech Republic,742 km in Poland and is the second longest river in Poland. It drains a basin of 118,861 square kilometres,106,056 km2 of which are in Poland,7,217 km2 in the Czech Republic, channels connect it to the Havel, Spree, Vistula system and Kłodnica. It flows through Silesian, Opole, Lower Silesian, Lubusz, and West Pomeranian voivodeships of Poland, the main branch empties into the Szczecin Lagoon near Police, Poland. The Szczecin Lagoon is bordered on the north by the islands of Usedom, between these two islands, there is only a narrow channel going to the Bay of Pomerania, which forms a part of the Baltic Sea. The largest city on the Oder is Wrocław, in Lower Silesia, the Oder is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as the town of Koźle, where the river connects to the Gliwice Canal. The upstream part of the river is canalized and permits larger barges to navigate between the sites around the Wrocław area. Further downstream the river is flowing, passing the towns of Eisenhüttenstadt. Downstream of Frankfurt the river Warta forms a connection with Poznań. At Hohensaaten the Oder–Havel Canal connects with the Berlin waterways again, near its mouth the Oder reaches the city of Szczecin, a major maritime port. The river finally reaches the Baltic Sea through the Szczecin Lagoon, the river in Germania Magna was known to the Romans as the Viadrus or Viadua in Classical Latin, as it was a branch of the Amber Road from the Baltic Sea to the Roman Empire. In German language it was and is called the Oder, written in older records as Odera or Oddera in Medieval Latin documents and it was mentioned in the Dagome iudex, which described territory of the Duchy of Poland under Mieszko I of Poland ca. 990, as a part of western frontier. Before Slavs settled along its banks, Oder was an important trade route, a document of the Bishopric of Prague mentions Zlasane, Trebovyane, Poborane, and Dedositze in Silesia. In the 13th century, the first dams were built to protect agricultural lands, the Finow Canal, built for the first time in 1605, connects Oder and Havel
Oder
–
Oder between Kienitz and Zollbrücke, Germany
Oder
–
Oder in
Wrocław,
Ostrów Tumski
Oder
–
Oder in
Wrocław
Oder
–
Oder River view from Ziegenwerder Island in
Frankfurt (Oder), Germany to
Słubice, Poland
4.
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
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Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province, in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is divided. Historically the area had ties to both German and Polish culture, with additional Czech influence in the southern mountainous region. Silesia was once divided into many small duchies reigned by dukes and princes of the Piast dynasty, during this time, cultural and ethnic Germanic influence prospered due to immigrants from the German-speaking areas of the mighty Holy Roman Empire. This also impacted on the architecture as well as traditions. Throughout the upcoming centuries, Lower Silesia experienced several key events such as the Protestant Reformation, Lower Silesia is one of the richest provinces in Poland as it has valuable natural resources such as copper, brown coal and rock materials, which are exploited by the biggest enterprises. Its well developed and varied industries attract both domestic and foreign investors and its capital and largest city is Wrocław, situated on the Odra River. Furthermore, the voivodeship is famous for its castles and palaces and is one of Polands most visited regions by tourists. The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Wrocław, Legnica, Wałbrzych and Jelenia Góra Voivodeships and it covers an area of 19,946 square kilometres, and as of 2013 has a total population of 2914362. Although much of the region is relatively low-lying it also includes Sudeten Foreland, popular ski resorts in Lower Silesian Voivodeship include Karpacz and Szklarska Poręba in the Karkonosze mountains. Other important tourist destinations in the include the chief city, Wrocław, as well as the towns of Jelenia Góra. The town of Boleslawiec is famed for its pottery, an international airport is located in Wrocław–Copernicus Airport. The main railway station is Wrocław Główny, the A4 motorway, A8 motorway and A18 motorway run through the voivodship. Lower Silesian Voivodeship is one of the most visited voivodeships in Poland and it is famous for a large number of castles and palaces, inter alia, Książ Castle, Czocha Castle, Chojnik Castle, Grodziec castle, Gorzanów Castle, Kliczków Castle. There is also a lot in the Jelenia Góra valley, the voivodships most widely visited city is Wrocław with many sights and attractions, inter alia open all year round Aquapark, Wrocław SPA Center and famous Wrocławs dwarfs. The Festival of Good Beer is held every year, on the weekend of June. Śnieżka is one of the first European peaks visited by tourists, it is also the highest peak of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Lower Silesia is one of the richest regions in Poland. GDP per capita in 2007 accounted for 108. 7% of the average for the country, since 2005, the voivodeship recorded the highest in the country economic growth rate. The voivodeship contains 91 cities and towns and these are listed below in descending order of population, Lower Silesian Voivodeship is divided into 30 counties, four of which are city counties
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
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Wrocław Old Town Hall
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
–
Wrocław Main Station is a major railway hub
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
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Museum "Stara Kopalnia - Centrum Nauki i Sztuki" in
Wałbrzych
5.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
Poland
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Reconstruction of a
Bronze Age,
Lusatian culture settlement in
Biskupin, c. 700 BC
Poland
–
Flag
Poland
–
Earliest known contemporary depiction of a Polish ruler; King
Mieszko II Lambert of Poland being presented with a
Liturgical book by
Matilda of Swabia, 1025–1031
Poland
–
Drawing of the
Battle of Grunwald, which was fought against the
German Order of Teutonic Knights, 15 July 1410
6.
Cable-stayed bridge
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A cable-stayed bridge has one or more towers, from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables run directly from the tower to the deck. The cable-stayed bridge is optimal for spans longer than cantilever bridges and this is the range where cantilever bridges would rapidly grow heavier if the span were lengthened, while suspension bridge cabling would not be more economical if the span were shortened. Cable-stayed bridges have been known since the 16th century and used widely since the 19th, early examples often combined features from both the cable-stayed and suspension designs, including the famous Brooklyn Bridge. The design fell from favor through the 20th century as larger gaps were bridged using pure suspension designs, Cable-stayed bridges date back to 1595, where designs were found in Machinae Novae, a book by Venetian inventor Fausto Veranzio. Their designers found that the combination of technologies created a stiffer bridge, john A. Roebling took particular advantage of this to limit deformations due to railway loads in the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge. Eduardo Torroja designed an aqueduct at Tempul in 1926. Albert Caquots 1952 concrete-decked cable-stayed bridge over the Donzère-Mondragon canal at Pierrelatte is one of the first of the modern type, the steel-decked Strömsund Bridge designed by Franz Dischinger is, therefore, more often cited as the first modern cable-stayed bridge. Other key pioneers included Fabrizio de Miranda, Riccardo Morandi, early bridges from this period used very few stay cables, as in the Theodor Heuss Bridge. However, this involves substantial erection costs, and more modern structures tend to use many more cables to ensure greater economy, Cable-stayed bridges may appear to be similar to suspension bridges, but in fact, they are quite different in principle and in their construction. In suspension bridges, large main cables hang between the towers and are anchored at each end to the ground and this can be difficult to implement when ground conditions are poor. The main cables, which are free to move on bearings in the towers, before the deck is installed, the cables are under tension from their own weight. Along the main cables smaller cables or rods connect to the bridge deck, as this is done, the tension in the cables increases, as it does with the live load of traffic crossing the bridge. The tension on the cables is transferred to the ground at the anchorages. Difference between types of bridges In the cable-stayed bridge, the towers are the primary load-bearing structures which transmit the loads to the ground. A cantilever approach is used to support the bridge deck near the towers. The mono design uses a cable from its towers and is one of the lesser-used examples of the class. In the harp or parallel design, the cables are nearly parallel so that the height of their attachment to the tower is proportional to the distance from the tower to their mounting on the deck
Cable-stayed bridge
–
The
Russky Bridge, the world's longest cable-stayed bridge
Cable-stayed bridge
–
Cable-stayed bridge by the
Renaissance polymath
Fausto Veranzio, from 1595/1616
Cable-stayed bridge
–
Abdoun Bridge,
Amman,
Jordan
Cable-stayed bridge
–
Rio-Antirio bridge,
Patras,
Greece
7.
Polish language
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Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
Polish language
–
The oldest printed text in Polish – Statuta synodalia Episcoporum Wratislaviensis printed in 1475 in
Wrocław by Kasper Elyan.
Polish language
–
Polish
Polish language
–
The
Jakub Wujek Bible in Polish, 1599 print
8.
A4 autostrada (Poland)
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The motorway is a part of the European route E40. The A4 parallels national road 94, some western stretches of this motorway were initially built as a Reichsautobahn by Nazi Germany in the 1930s under her pre-war borders. The section between Kraków and Katowice was built from the 1980s to 1996 and the section from Wrocław to Katowice between 2000 and 2005, in August 2009 construction of the last western part of the motorway from the border with Germany to the junction with A18 motorway was completed. Also completed in 2009 was the first portion of the motorway east of Kraków, in July 2016 the missing 41 km between Rzeszów and Jaroslaw was completed. This was the stretch of missing motorway to be completed. So in 2016 the entire length of the A4 from the German border to the Ukrainian border was completed and this ambitious target was not attained after multiple delays, some caused by the floods of 2010. European route E40 Official website of Katowice-Kraków section operator
A4 autostrada (Poland)
–
Inscription made by Soviet soldiers in 1945: Водрузим над Берлином знамя победы (We shall hoist the flag of victory over Berlin); A4 west of
Wrocław.
A4 autostrada (Poland)
–
Autostrada A4
A4 autostrada (Poland)
–
A4 west of
Wrocław with repaved concrete surface
A4 autostrada (Poland)
–
Gliwice-Sosnica A1 and A4 motorways and national road 44 junction near
Gliwice - the largest motorway junction in Central-Eastern Europe, opened 2009-2010
9.
Expressway S5 (Poland)
–
Expressway S5 or express road S5 is a limited-access road in Poland which has been planned to run along the route Ostróda – Grudziądz – Bydgoszcz – Poznań – Wrocław. As of June 2012, about 80 km of the road has been completed, however, plans to finish the whole road by championships have proven too optimistic, and only a section between A2 motorway and Gniezno has been completed by that time. The 35 km section has opened on the 4th of June 2012. This part of the S5 expressway serves as the bypass of Poznań. Other existing parts of the road are the bypass of Świecie, the bypass of Szubin, the 29 km bypass of Bojanowo and Rawicz section fully opened to traffic in September 2014. In October 2015 the expressway has been extended from Nowe Marzy junction to Ostróda, in November 2015 contracts were signed for the Gniezno-Grudziadz section in total of approx
Expressway S5 (Poland)
–
Expressway S5
10.
Expressway S8 (Poland)
–
Expressway S8 or express road S8 is major road in Poland which, when completed, will run along the route Wrocław – Łódź – Warsaw – Białystok. The whole road is planned to be about 565 km long, originally the road was to continue on to the border with Lithuania but in 2009 the plans have been changed, and currently the S61 will branch off S8 and go to the border. S8 section from Warsaw to S61 has been planned to part of Via Baltica. In May 2015,402.7 km of the expressway was completed, the existing sections are, Kobierzyce - Rzgów,226.35 km Piotrków Tryb. As of 2012, two sections were completed in Warsaw, the first runs from Konotopa to Powązkowska street and is 10.1 km long. Construction started in 2008 and was finished in December 2010, the second section runs from Modlińska to Marki and is 7.1 km long. Its construction started in 2008 and it was finished in June 2012, the contract to build the section immediately south of Warsaw was signed in April 2013, with completion planned in 32 months. The contract involves construction of 11,5 km of expressway between interchanges Opacz and Janki
Expressway S8 (Poland)
–
Express road S8 between
Radzymin and
Wyszków
Expressway S8 (Poland)
–
Expressway S8
Expressway S8 (Poland)
–
Express road S8 in
Choroszcz
11.
Tower
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A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, Towers are specifically distinguished from buildings in that they are not built to be habitable but to serve other functions. Towers can be stand alone structures or be supported by adjacent buildings or can be a feature on top of a structure or building. Old English torr is from Latin turris via Old French tor, the Latin term together with Greek τύρσις was loaned from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language, connected with the Illyrian toponym Βου-δοργίς. The oldest known may be the stone tower in walls of Neolithic Jericho. Some of the earliest towers were ziggurats, which existed in Sumerian architecture since the 4th millennium BC, the most famous ziggurats include the Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur, built the 3rd millennium BC, and the Etemenanki, one of the most famous examples of Babylonian architecture. The latter was built in Babylon during the 2nd millennium BC and was considered the tallest tower of the ancient world, some of the earliest surviving examples are the broch structures in northern Scotland, which are conical towerhouses. These and other examples from Phoenician and Roman cultures emphasised the use of a tower in fortification, for example, the name of the Moroccan city of Mogador, founded in the first millennium BC, is derived from the Phoenician word for watchtower. The Romans utilised octagonal towers as elements of Diocletians Palace in Croatia, which monument dates to approximately 300 AD, while the Servian Walls, the Chinese used towers as integrated elements of the Great Wall of China in 210 BC during the Qin Dynasty. Towers were also an important element of castles, other well known towers include the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy built from 1173 until 1372 and the Two Towers in Bologna, Italy built from 1109 until 1119. The Himalayan Towers are stone towers located chiefly in Tibet built approximately 14th to 15th century, up to a certain height, a tower can be made with the supporting structure with parallel sides. However, above a height, the compressive load of the material is exceeded. This can be avoided if the support structure tapers up the building. A second limit is that of buckling—the structure requires sufficient stiffness to avoid breaking under the loads it faces, many very tall towers have their support structures at the periphery of the building, which greatly increases the overall stiffness. A third limit is dynamic, a tower is subject to varying winds, vortex shedding and these are often dealt with through a combination of simple strength and stiffness, as well as in some cases tuned mass dampers to damp out movements. Varying or tapering the outer aspect of the tower with height avoids vibrations due to vortex shedding occurring along the building simultaneously. Although not correctly called towers many modern skyscraper are often called towers, in the United Kingdom, tall domestic buildings are referred to as tower blocks. In the United States, the original World Trade Center had the nickname the Twin Towers, the tower throughout history has provided its users with an advantage in surveying defensive positions and obtaining a better view of the surrounding areas, including battlefields
Tower
–
The
Eiffel Tower in
Paris,
France
Tower
–
Azadi Tower in
Tehran,
Iran, depicting
Persian Architecture styles of various eras
Tower
–
The
Two Towers in
Bologna,
Italy
Tower
–
CN Tower (world's sixth tallest freestanding structure) in
Toronto,
Ontario,
Canada
12.
Solidarity Bridge
–
The Solidarity Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge over the Vistula River in Płock, Poland, being in a sequence of two national roads, national road no.60 and national road no.62. The main span of the Solidarity Bridge is 375 metres long, the main span is one of the longest in the world among cable stayed bridges with cables located in single plane. At the same time, it is the longest span in the world among cable stayed bridges with a fixed-in deck pylon, the main span of the Solidarity Bridge is the longest span in Poland and this part of Europe. The Solidarity Bridge in Płock is largest and longest cable-stayed bridge in Poland at 615 metres long, the Bridge was built from July 2002 till October 2007 and opened on 13 October 2007. Solidarity Bridge in Płock on the list of largest cable-stayed bridges Solidarity Bridge at Structurae
Solidarity Bridge
–
Solidarity Bridge
Solidarity Bridge
–
Scheme of the Solidarity Bridge in Płock
13.
Warsaw
–
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland, roughly 260 kilometres from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population is estimated at 1.750 million residents within a metropolitan area of 3.101 million residents. The city limits cover 516.9 square kilometres, while the area covers 6,100.43 square kilometres. In 2012 the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Warsaw as the 32nd most liveable city in the world and it was also ranked as one of the most liveable cities in Central Europe. Today Warsaw is considered an Alpha– global city, an international tourist destination. Warsaws economy, by a variety of industries, is characterised by FMCG manufacturing, metal processing, steel and electronic manufacturing. The city is a significant centre of research and development, BPO, ITO, the Warsaw Stock Exchange is one of the largest and most important in Central and Eastern Europe. Frontex, the European Union agency for external security, has its headquarters in Warsaw. It has been said that Warsaw, together with Frankfurt, London, Paris, the city is positioning itself as Eastern Europe’s chic cultural capital with thriving art and club scenes and serious restaurants. The first historical reference to Warsaw dates back to the year 1313, after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, Warsaw was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars, the city became the capital of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. In accordance with the decisions of the Congress of Vienna, the Russian Empire annexed Warsaw in 1815, only in 1918 did it regain independence from the foreign rule and emerge as a new capital of the independent Republic of Poland. Warsaw gained the title of the Phoenix City because it has survived wars, conflicts. Most notably, the city required painstaking rebuilding after the damage it suffered in World War II. On 9 November 1940, the city was awarded Polands highest military decoration for heroism, the historic city-centre of Warsaw with its picturesque Old Town in 1980 was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Buildings represent examples of nearly every European architectural style and historical period, folk etymology attributes the city name to a fisherman, Wars, and his wife, Sawa. According to legend, Sawa was a living in the Vistula River with whom Wars fell in love
Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw
14.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
Spain
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Lady of Elche
Spain
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Flag
Spain
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Altamira Cave paintings, in
Cantabria.
Spain
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Celtic castro in
A Guarda,
Galicia.
15.
Acciona
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Acciona, S. A. is a Spanish conglomerate group dedicated to the development and management of infrastructure and renewable energy. The company was founded in 1997 through the merger of Entrecanales y Tavora, the companys headquarters is in Alcobendas, Community of Madrid, Spain. The companys U. S. operations are headquartered in Chicago, the Company employs 30,000 professionals, and it is to be found in 30 countries on five continents. The Company is IBEX 35-listed and an industry benchmark, the company can trace its origins back to MZOV, a firm founded in 1862. In 1978 MZOV merged with Cubiertas y Tejados, a business founded in 1916, in 1997 the company merged with Entrecanales y Tavora, a firm founded in 1931, to form NECSO Entrecanales Cubiertas S. A
Acciona
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Headquarters, Alcobendas, Spain
Acciona
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King Abdullah University Hospital, which is the hospital of
Jordan University of Science and Technology
16.
2010 Central European floods
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The 2010 Central European floods were a devastating series of weather events which occurred across several Central European countries during May and June 2010. Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, at least thirty-seven people died in the floods and approximately 23,000 people were evacuated. The city of Kraków declared a state of emergency, the floods forced the closure and relocation of items from the Auschwitz concentration camp museum. On 20 May, aid began arriving to Poland from several European Union countries, in Poland, the floods caused the deaths of at least 25 people, the evacuation of approximately 23,000 people, and an estimated economic cost of 2.5 billion euros. Polands Prime Minister Donald Tusk informed the Sejm that ongoing flooding was the worst natural disaster in the nations history, without precedent in the past 160 years. Two months worth of rain poured down over a 24‑hour period, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum was closed and important artifacts were moved to higher ground as floodwaters approached. The city of Kraków announced a state of emergency, due to the high level of the Vistula river, Krakóws Dębnicki bridge, located in the center of the city, and the Nowohucki bridge were closed on 18 May. The flooding lasted for a number of days, and escalated on 20 May when the Vistula River broke its banks, in the town of Sandomierz, residents were stranded in their homes while power outages affected telecommunication. The 2010 flooding was considered more severe than the last major flood, Wrocław, where the level of the Oder river on 22 May reached 665 cm in Trestno, declared a flood alert. The Kozanów district of Wrocław was flooded after a temporary wall was breached. On Sunday 23 May the Wisła river broke a wall and flooded Świniary near Płock. Reports stated that 22 villages in the Płock area had sustained flooding or were under imminent threat, around 4,000 people and 5,000 animals were evacuated. In Płock, Gmury street was submerged, in the Lublin Voivodeship,800 people had to be evacuated after the river Chodelka flooded in the Gmina Wilków. On 23 May, it was reported that 23 villages were flooded with 4–5 meters of water. During the May floods, at least 6,200 households in the Małopolska region alone were fully or partially flooded and 12,000 people were affected by it, numerous other places in Poland were flooded too. In the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, another flood alert was announced on 2 June in relation to Kraków, Tarnów, the counties of Bochnia, Brzesko, Dąbrowa, and Sucha, twelve rivers exceeded the alarm level in 14 places and eleven rivers exceeded warning levels in 21 places. On 4 June the railway bridge between Nowy Sącz and Stary Sącz was broken by the river Poprad, at least three people fell from the bridge into the rushing waters. According to some reports their fate is unknown while other say they managed to save themselves
2010 Central European floods
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Floods in
Gliwice,
Poland
2010 Central European floods
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Wrocław 's flooded Kozanów district
2010 Central European floods
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Vistula broads in
Strzyżawa - The riverbed is located approximately 500m from the edge of the forest on the left side
2010 Central European floods
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Flood in Opole
17.
Ministry of Infrastructure (Poland)
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The Ministry of Infrastructure was an agency of the government of Poland. The ministry was headquartered in Warsaw, following the 2007 election of Civic Platform under Donald Tusk, the ministry was again reorganized into the Ministry of Infrastructure. Following the reelection of Tusk in the 2011 parliamentary elections, the Council of Ministers moved to abolish the Infrastructure Ministry on 21 November,2011 and it was replaced by the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy, and the Ministry of Administration and Digitization. State Commission on Aircraft Accidents Investigation Ministry of Infrastructure Ministry of Infrastructure
Ministry of Infrastructure (Poland)
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The building of the Ministry of Infrastructure.
Ministry of Infrastructure (Poland)
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Official governmental wall plaque
18.
Donald Tusk
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Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician and historian. He has been President of the European Council since 1 December 2014, previously he was Prime Minister of Poland and a co-founder and chairman of the Civic Platform party. Tusk has been involved in Polish politics since the early 1990s, having founded several political parties, in 2014, he became President of the European Council, and was re-elected to this position in 2017. He resigned as Polish Prime Minister to take the role, having been the longest-serving Prime Minister of the Third Polish Republic, Tusk was born in Gdańsk in northern Poland. His father, also named Donald Tusk, was a carpenter, Tusk got his Scottish first name because his paternal grandmother Juliana travelled abroad in her youth and became enamoured of a lord called Donald. She gave this name to her son, who passed it on to her grandson, Tusk credits his interest in politics to watching a clash between workers on strike and riot police when he was a teenager. He enrolled at the University of Gdańsk to study history, while studying, he was active in the Students Solidarity Committee, a group that opposed Polands communist rule at the time. Tusk was one of the founders of the Liberal Democratic Congress, the KLD later merged with the Democratic Union to become the Freedom Union. Tusk became deputy chairman of the new party, and was elected to the Senate in the election in 1997. In 2001, he co-founded the Civic Platform, and became deputy speaker in parliament after the party won seats in the years election, in 2005, Tusk was defeated in the presidential election by Lech Kaczynski, and the Civic Platform lost Parliament to the Law and Justice party. Tusk and his cabinet were sworn in on 16 November. In September 2014, Tusk resigned his position as Prime Minister in order to take the position of President of the European Council. Later on in his rule, Tusk changed his views on the role of taxation in the functioning of the state and his government has never cut any taxes. Instead, it raised the tax from 22% to 23% in 2011 and has increased the excise imposed on diesel oil, alcoholic beverages, tobacco. The number of employed in the public administration has also grown considerably. As of 2012, the value of investments in Poland had never reached its heights from 2006–2007. The number of Poles staying abroad in 2013 was almost the same as in 2007, the construction of a more adequate and larger national road network in preparation for the UEFA2012 football championships has been a stated priority for the Tusk government. On 27 October 2009, Tusk declared that he wants to partially outlaw gambling, Tusk criticised other nations responses to the pandemic
Donald Tusk
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Donald Tusk
Donald Tusk
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Donald Tusk's speech at the 2nd edition of the Annual
NBP Conference on The Future of the European Economy
Donald Tusk
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Donald Tusk (right) being appointed as Prime Minister by the President
Lech Kaczyński on 9 November 2007
Donald Tusk
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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and French President
Nicolas Sarkozy
19.
Siekierkowski Bridge
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Siekierkowski Bridge is a bridge over the Vistula River in Warsaw, Poland, connecting the Mokotów and Wawer districts. It is a bridge,500 m long and 33.38 m wide. The structure is supported by two H-pylons,87.07 m high, when the bridge was opened on 21 September 2002 it was the newest and southernmost of Warsaws bridges. The bridge is named after Warsaws Siekierki district, on the west side of the Vistula River, Łazienkowski Bridge Poniatowski Bridge Świętokrzyski Bridge
Siekierkowski Bridge
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Siekierkowski Bridge
20.
Gazeta Wyborcza
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Gazeta Wyborcza is a newspaper published in Warsaw, Poland. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news from a liberal perspective, Gazeta Wyborcza was first published on 8 May 1989, under the rhyming masthead motto, Nie ma wolności bez Solidarności. The founders are Andrzej Wajda, Aleksander Paszyński and Zbigniew Bujak and its founding was an outcome of the Polish Round Table Agreement between the communist government of the Peoples Republic of Poland and political opponents centered on the Solidarity movement. It was initially owned by Agora SA, later Cox Communications partially bought the daily. The company became American Company Cox Enterprises in 1993, the paper was to serve as the voice of Solidarity during the run-up to semi-free elections held on 4 June 1989. As such, it was the first legal newspaper published outside the communist governments control since its founding in the late 1940s, the papers editor-in-chief, since its founding, has been Adam Michnik. He was appointed to the post by Lech Walesa, the paper is published in tabloid format. According to the editors, the first edition was small and relatively expensive due to the supplies of paper available from the state. A year and a later, the daily run had reached 500,000 copies. Since then, Gazeta Wyborcza has been an independent newspaper which generally supports liberal values. Gazeta Wyborcza had a circulation of 432,000 copies during the first three quarters of 1998, the circulation of the paper was 459,473 copies between January and February 2001. Its circulation was 542,000 copies in 2003, making it the second best selling newspaper in the country, the 2004 circulation of the paper was 516,000 copies on weekdays and 686,000 copies on weekends. The decline continued in 2013 when circulation was down to 190,000 with a decrease in advertising revenue. The adoption of the bill in its original form proposed by the government would have prevented Agora S. A. from buying Polsat and this case, called the Rywin affair, led to the establishment of an investigation commission by the Polish Parliament. Consequently, Lew Rywin was sentenced for attempting to influence the legislative process in a way that would enable a Polish media company to buy a television station. Furthermore, the draft act was rejected by the Polish Parliament. Gazeta Wyborcza has been criticized for distorted coverage of issues such as post-communist vetting, Polish-Jewish relations. It has also received criticism for using its influence to whitewash former communists, after the fall of communism, the paper was criticized for taking part in an intensive propaganda campaign and particularly for rigorously trying to revamp Jaruzelskis image
Gazeta Wyborcza
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Front page of an April 2006 issue.
Gazeta Wyborcza
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Gazeta Wyborcza head office in Warsaw, Czerska Street
21.
Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland
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The Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, or KPRM, is the executive office for the Prime Minister of Poland. The current Chief of the Chancellery is Beata Kempa, the Chancellery is also the name of the building holding the working offices and support staff of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers. Formerly the Cadet Building, the Chancellery is located along Ujazdów Avenue in the borough of Warsaw. The Presidium continued its functions until the Invasion of Poland in September 1939 forced the government into exile, 1945–1952, The Presidium of the Council of Ministers is revived following the end of the Second World War. After 1948, the Presidiums decision-making comes increasingly under the control of the Polish United Workers Party, the URM acts under the shadow of the ruling PZPR following the abolition of the presidency and the consolidation of the one-party state. The Office of the Council of Ministers remained a facet of Polish political culture following the dissolution of the communist state with the events of 1989 and 1990. 1997–present, Administrative reforms acts passed under Prime Minister Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz transform the URM into the current Chancellery at the start of 1997. Under the new Chancellery, support staff and executive services are increasingly consolidated to serve the Prime Minister rather than members of the government as a whole. Beginning with the start of year, the chief of the Chancellery communicates to all members of the cabinet to present an agenda. Once a legislative agenda is introduced into the cabinet, the Chancellery proceeds to scrutinize ministerial drafts for compliance in both substance and timing. In addition, the Prime Minister and the support staff meet visiting foreign. Built between 1900 and 1903 during Warsaws later Russian era, the building provided the home to the Alexander Suvorov Cadet Corps of the Imperial Russian Army. At the outbreak of the First World War, the Cadet Corps building was transformed into a hospital, and following the Russian retreat. The building quickly came under the administration of the new Polish Armys Infantry Academy, during the 1926 May Coup, the Infantry Academy supported the government of President Stanisław Wojciechowski and Prime Minister Wincenty Witos against Marshal Józef Piłsudski. As a consequence, the victorious Piłsudski-influenced government forced the Infantry Academy to vacate the buildings premises, the General Inspectorate of the Armed Forces moved into the structure in 1928, Piłsudski himself moved nearby to a connecting palace, living there until shortly before his death in 1935. After the wars conclusion, the ushering in of the communist era brought extensive reconstruction, floor, the building served as the host to the historic Round Table Talks in 1989, signaling both an end to communist dominance in Poland and the fall of communism throughout the Eastern Bloc. In 1995, the former Cadet Corps building was entered into the registry of monuments within Warsaw Voivodeship for its architecture. Since 1997, the building has served as the home of the Chancellery, today, the building is considered one of the most politically important centers of decision-making in Poland
Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland
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The Chancellery building, located along
Ujazdów Avenue in
Śródmieście,
Warsaw.
Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland
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Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Polish Republic
Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland
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A memorial outside of the Chancellery's entrance.
Poland
