| British Embassy in Warsaw |
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Al. Róż 1
00-556 Warsaw
phone: (48 22) 311 00 00
fax: (48 22) 311 03 11
www.GOwarsaw.eu
is a Warsaw Business Tourism Web site.
Poland is located in the heart of Europe and covers an area of
312,700 square kilometres, making it ninth largest country in
Europe. Poland has 38 million inhabitants, 1,650,000 of whom live in
the capital city of Warsaw. Poland is a fantastic holiday
destination, offering unforgettable experiences for weekend breaks
tourists with even the most diverse interests. City break
enthusiasts can find more or less everything in Poland, from alpine
mountains, golden sandy beaches, pristine lakes, virgin forests,
world-class historic monuments and very friendly people. That aside,
Poland is also the largest and most rapidly developing country in
Central Europe and is extremely cosmopolitan. The most popular
holiday destinations in Poland are: Warsaw, Krakow, Zakopane and
Gdansk. Anyone who’s had a city break in any of these fantastic
cities returns home raving about them. Poland really is the perfect
cultural holiday destination, with so many things to see and do.
Have a holiday in Poland and experience the countries amazing
cultural achievements in the fields of architecture, opera & ballet,
literature, and music. A short break journey to Warsaw or Krakow
will be a trip to remember forever. It’s more than a country, it’s a
wonderland. Book your Warsaw break or Krakow break with Vamos
Travel.
Although a trading settlement existed on the site as far back as
the 10th century, the recorded history of Warsaw begins in the 13th
century with the building of a castle for the duke of Mazovia. The
town that grew up around the castle became the capital of the duchy
in 1413, and the duchy became part of the kingdom of Poland in 1526.
The major transition, changing Warsaw from a city to the nation’s
capital occurred during 1596. It was in this year when Warsaw became
the seat of the Sejm or Polish parliament, chosen for its central
location between Poland and Lithuania. Later that year saw a fire in
the King Zygmunt III Waza's residence in Krakow, which was the main
reason for Warsaw establishing itself as the new Polish capital.
After this, Warsaw grew rapidly as a commercial and despite the
frequent invasions from many nations, the 18th century saw some of
the most splendid growth of the city. The 18th century saw some of
the most splendid growth of the city. It was during this period that
many of the palaces, churches and monasteries were erected and the
cultural life flourished. By 1795 Poland had been invaded many times
by Sweden, Russia and was now under Prussian rule. However, in 1806
Warsaw was liberated by Napoleon I and he reestablished Warsaw as
capital, but with the collapse of Napoleonic France, Warsaw fell
back under the control of Russia in 1813. German forces took the
city in 1915, during World War I, but in 1918 Poland regained her
independence and Warsaw became the capital of the Second Republic of
Poland. During World War II the city was occupied (1939-45) by
German troops and subjected to systematic destruction and the
population lived in terror. The Jewish citizens were forced to live
in an isolated ghetto, which in 1942 contained about 500,000 people.
From there they were sent to the gas chambers of Auschwitz and other
death camps. When the Germans decided to clear the Warsaw ghetto in
the spring of 1943, there was a Jewish uprising. In an unequal
battle, thousands of Jewish people were cruelly wiped out. After the
suppression of the uprising all inhabitants were expelled from the
city and the Nazis deliberately burned and blew up the remaining
buildings of the capital. In August, 1944 Warsaw was no more and the
Old Town lay in ruins. Warsaw was finally liberated in 1945, but
once again fell under communist Soviet control for a further 40
years. However the Polish people constantly fought against communism
and when the Soviet Union’s economy collapsed, the Soviet’s finally
had to allow free elections in 1989. Multi-party elections were
held, which ended in a complete defeat for the Communist Party and
the new government right away began extensive democratic and
economic reforms. The main difficulty faced by the independent
country was solving its economic problems. The Plan called for a
liberal domestic price policy, increased imports, tougher wage
control and financial policy regarding companies; it introduced
interest rates higher than inflation; made the zloty a convertible
currency and stabilized its exchange rate against the US dollar. As
a result the Polish economy stabilized and opened up to the world.
Its banking system and monetary credit policy were reformed. Capital
and labour markets were created. In July 1990 Sejm passed the
privatization laws. The next years saw the introduction of personal
income tax (July 1991) and VAT (1992). The economic successes of
consecutive cabinets persuaded Poland's creditors to reduce the
country's foreign debt by 50%, and encouraged Western companies to
invest in Poland. The Warsaw Stock Exchange was opened in 1991. The
now fully convertible zloty was revalorized in 1995 and the success
of the Polish reforms stabilized the zloty/dollar exchange rate.
Poland is now a country with a stable political system, a developing
economy, actively operating international organizations (Poland is a
member of the WTO, OECD, CEFTA, and other bodies). Today, with 1.7
million inhabitants, Warsaw is continually expanding and is a
thriving ‘western like’ capital city, popular amongst new businesses
and attracts thousands of tourists each year. The only real way to
discover Warsaw’s fascinating history, culture and general way of
life is to book a citybreak holiday to Poland. Contact the Poland
Travel experts or browse on-line through our city break deals and
luxury weekend break packages. Enjoy our passionate and professional
services. |
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