Masovian Voivodeship

This article is about the contemporary administrative unit. For other uses of that name, see Masovian Voivodeship (disambiguation).

Masovian Voivodeship (Polish: województwo mazowieckie, pronounced [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ mazɔˈvjɛt͡skʲɛ] ^ⓘ) is a voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, containing Poland's capital Warsaw.

Masovian Voivodeship Województwo mazowieckie
Voivodeship
Flag Coat of arms Brandmark
Motto:  "Serce Polski" (Heart of Poland)
Location within Poland
Division into counties
Coordinates (Warsaw): 52°13′N 21°0′E / 52.217°N 21.000°E / 52.217; 21.000
Country	Poland
Capital	Warsaw
Counties	5 cities, 37 land counties * Ostrołęka Płock Radom Siedlce Warsaw Białobrzegi County Ciechanów County Garwolin County Gostynin County Grodzisk Mazowiecki County Grójec County Kozienice County Legionowo County Lipsko County Łosice County Maków County Mińsk County Mława County Nowy Dwór County Ostrołęka County Ostrów Mazowiecka County Otwock County Piaseczno County Płock County Płońsk County Pruszków County Przasnysz County Przysucha County Pułtusk County Radom County Siedlce County Sierpc County Sochaczew County Sokołów County Szydłowiec County Warsaw West County Węgrów County Wołomin County Wyszków County Żuromin County Zwoleń County Żyrardów County
Government
• Body	Executive board
• Voivode	Mariusz Frankowski (PO)
• Marshal	Adam Struzik (PSL)
• EP	Masovian constituency Warsaw constituency
Area
• Total	35,579 km^2 (13,737 sq mi)
Population  (2019)
• Total	5,411,446^[1]
• Density	151/km^2 (390/sq mi)
GDP ^[2]
• Total	€150.3 billion (2022)
• Per capita	€27,300 (2022)
ISO 3166 code	PL-14
Vehicle registration	W, A
HDI (2021)	0.926^[3] very high · 1st
Website	www.mazovia.pl
further divided into 314 gminas

Masovian Voivodeship has an area of 35,579 square kilometres (13,737 sq mi) and had a 2019 population of 5,411,446, making it Poland's largest and most populous province.^[1] Its principal cities are Warsaw (1.783 million) in the center of the Warsaw metropolitan area, Radom (212,230) to the south, Płock (119,709) to the west, Siedlce (77,990) to the east, and Ostrołęka (52,071) to the north. It borders six other provinces: Warmia-Mazury to the north, Podlaskie to the northeast, Lublin to the southeast, Holy Cross to the south, Łódź to the southwest, and Kujawy-Pomorze to the northwest.

The name of the province recalls the region's traditional name, Mazovia (also spelled Masovia), with which it is roughly coterminous. However, the province's southern part, including Radom, historically belonged to Lesser Poland; while Łomża with environs, though historically part of Mazovia, is now part of Podlaskie Voivodeship. The Masovian Voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999, under the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998, out of the former provinces of Warsaw, Płock, Ciechanów, Ostrołęka, Siedlce, and Radom.

Masovian Voivodeship is Poland's prime center of science, research, education, industry, and infrastructure.^[4] It has Poland's lowest unemployment rate and is a very high-income province.^[4] It is also popular with tourists due to the many historical monuments and its over 20% forested area of pine and oak.^[5] The province's Kampinos National Park is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Administrative division

Masovian Voivodeship is divided into 42 counties, including five city counties and 37 land counties. These are subdivided into 314 gminas (municipalities), which include 85 urban gminas.

The counties, shown on the numbered map, are described in the table below.

Map ref.	English and Polish names	Area		Population (2019)	Seat	Other towns	Total gminas
		(km²)	(sq mi)
City counties
1	Warsaw Warszawa	517	200	1,783,321			1
(2)	Ostrołęka	29	11	52,071			1
(3)	Płock	88	34	119,709			1
(4)	Radom	112	43	212,230			1
(5)	Siedlce	32	12	77,990			1
Land counties
2	Ostrołęka County powiat ostrołęcki	2,099	810	88,717	Ostrołęka *	Myszyniec	11
3	Płock County powiat płocki	1,799	695	110,987	Płock *	Gąbin, Drobin, Wyszogród	15
4	Radom County powiat radomski	1,530	591	152,190	Radom *	Pionki, Iłża, Skaryszew	13
5	Siedlce County powiat siedlecki	1,603	619	81,265	Siedlce *	Mordy	13
6	Żuromin County powiat żuromiński	805	311	38,688	Żuromin	Bieżuń, Lubowidz	6
7	Mława County powiat mławski	1,182	456	72,906	Mława		10
8	Przasnysz County powiat przasnyski	1,218	470	52,676	Przasnysz	Chorzele	7
9	Ciechanów County powiat ciechanowski	1,063	410	89,460	Ciechanów	Glinojeck	9
10	Sierpc County powiat sierpecki	853	329	52,077	Sierpc		7
11	Maków County powiat makowski	1,065	411	45,076	Maków Mazowiecki	Różan	10
12	Ostrów Mazowiecka County powiat ostrowski	1,218	470	72,558	Ostrów Mazowiecka	Brok	11
13	Płońsk County powiat płoński	1,384	534	87,183	Płońsk	Raciąż	12
14	Pułtusk County powiat pułtuski	829	320	51,862	Pułtusk		7
15	Wyszków County powiat wyszkowski	876	338	74,094	Wyszków		6
16	Gostynin County powiat gostyniński	616	238	45,060	Gostynin	# Sanniki (1,961)	5
17	Nowy Dwór County powiat nowodworski	692	267	79,256	Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki	Nasielsk, Zakroczym	6
18	Legionowo County powiat legionowski	390	151	117,751	Legionowo	Serock	5
19	Wołomin County powiat wołomiński	955	369	247,288	Wołomin	Ząbki, Marki, Kobyłka, Zielonka, Radzymin, Tłuszcz	12
20	Węgrów County powiat węgrowski	1,219	471	66,037	Węgrów	Łochów	9
21	Sokołów County powiat sokołowski	1,131	437	53,992	Sokołów Podlaski	Kosów Lacki	9
22	Sochaczew County powiat sochaczewski	731	282	85,024	Sochaczew		8
23	Warsaw West County powiat warszawski zachodni	533	206	117,783	Ożarów Mazowiecki	Łomianki, Błonie	7
24	Mińsk County powiat miński	1,164	449	154,054	Mińsk Mazowiecki	Sulejówek, Halinów, Kałuszyn, # Mrozy (3,574)	13
25	Łosice County powiat łosicki	772	298	30,895	Łosice		6
26	Żyrardów County powiat żyrardowski	533	206	75,787	Żyrardów	Mszczonów	5
27	Grodzisk Mazowiecki County powiat grodziski	367	142	94,962	Grodzisk Mazowiecki	Milanówek, Podkowa Leśna	6
28	Pruszków County powiat pruszkowski	246	95	165,039	Pruszków	Piastów, Brwinów	6
29	Piaseczno County powiat piaseczyński	621	240	186,460	Piaseczno	Konstancin-Jeziorna, Góra Kalwaria, Tarczyn	6
30	Otwock County powiat otwocki	615	237	124,241	Otwock	Józefów, Karczew	8
31	Grójec County powiat grójecki	1,269	490	98,334	Grójec	Warka, Nowe Miasto nad Pilicą, Mogielnica	10
32	Garwolin County powiat garwoliński	1,284	496	108,909	Garwolin	Łaskarzew, Pilawa, Żelechów	14
33	Białobrzegi County powiat białobrzeski	639	247	33,524	Białobrzegi	Wyśmierzyce	6
34	Kozienice County powiat kozienicki	917	354	60,253	Kozienice		7
35	Przysucha County powiat przysuski	801	309	41,721	Przysucha		8
36	Zwoleń County powiat zwoleński	571	220	36,222	Zwoleń		5
37	Szydłowiec County powiat szydłowiecki	452	175	39,766	Szydłowiec		5
38	Lipsko County powiat lipski	748	289	34,028	Lipsko		6
* seat not part of the county

Cities and towns

 

Population density by gmina (at 2007-01-01)

The voivodeship contains 10 cities and 78 towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 2019):^[1]

Cities (governed by a city mayor or prezydent miasta):

1. Warsaw (1,783,321)
2. Radom (212,230)
3. Płock (119,709)
4. Siedlce (77,990)
5. Pruszków (62,076)
6. Legionowo (54,049)
7. Ostrołęka (52,071)
8. Otwock (44,827)
9. Ciechanów (44,118)
10. Żyrardów (39,896)

Towns:

1. Piaseczno (48,286)
2. Mińsk Mazowiecki (40,836)
3. Ząbki (37,219)
4. Wołomin (37,082)
5. Sochaczew (36,327)
6. Marki (34,679)
7. Grodzisk Mazowiecki (31,782)
8. Mława (31,241)
9. Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki (28,649)
10. Wyszków (26,905)
11. Kobyłka (24,096)
12. Piastów (22,619)
13. Ostrów Mazowiecka (22,489)
14. Płońsk (22,130)
15. Józefów (20,698)
16. Milanówek (20,698)
17. Sulejówek (19,766)
18. Pułtusk (19,432)
19. Sokołów Podlaski (18,946)
20. Gostynin (18,588)
21. Pionki (18,269)
22. Sierpc (17,994)
23. Zielonka (17,588)
24. Garwolin (17,501)
25. Przasnysz (17,264)
26. Kozienice (17,208)
27. Konstancin-Jeziorna (17,023)
28. Łomianki (17,022)
29. Grójec (16,745)
30. Brwinów (13,601)
31. Radzymin (13,005)
32. Węgrów (12,628)
33. Błonie (12,261)
34. Góra Kalwaria (12,040)
35. Warka (11,948)
36. Szydłowiec (11,736)
37. Ożarów Mazowiecki (11,719)
38. Karczew (9,856)
39. Maków Mazowiecki (9,776)
40. Żuromin (8,867)
41. Tłuszcz (8,156)
42. Nasielsk (7,702)
43. Zwoleń (7,698)
44. Łosice (7,049)
45. Białobrzegi (6,951)
46. Łochów (6,825)
47. Mszczonów (6,376)
48. Przysucha (5,818)
49. Lipsko (5,501)
50. Łaskarzew (4,840)
51. Iłża (4,733)
52. Pilawa (4,578)
53. Serock (4,506)
54. Raciąż (4,384)
55. Skaryszew (4,371)
56. Gąbin (4,125)
57. Tarczyn (4,116)
58. Żelechów (3,988)
59. Podkowa Leśna (3,851)
60. Nowe Miasto nad Pilicą (3,755)
61. Halinów (3,739)
62. Mrozy (3,574)
63. Myszyniec (3,408)
64. Zakroczym (3,196)
65. Chorzele (3,088)
66. Glinojeck (3,019)
67. Kałuszyn (2,899)
68. Drobin (2,872)
69. Różan (2,709)
70. Wyszogród (2,601)
71. Mogielnica (2,253)
72. Kosów Lacki (2,089)
73. Sanniki (1,961)
74. Brok (1,941)
75. Bieżuń (1,846)
76. Mordy (1,788)
77. Lubowidz (1,684)
78. Wyśmierzyce (885)

•  
  Warsaw is the capital of Poland.
•  
  Radom is part of historical Lesser Poland.
•  
  Płock is the historical capital of Masovia and former Polish capital.
•  
  Siedlce is part of historical Lesser Poland.
•  
  Ostrołęka is part of the ethnocultural region of Kurpie.
•  
  Pułtusk is one of the oldest towns in Poland.
•  
  Ciechanów is a former royal city.
•  
  Żyrardów is one of the youngest cities in the voivodeship, established in 1830.
•  
  Mińsk Mazowiecki is part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.
•  
  Pruszków is part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.

Politics

Main article: Masovian Regional Assembly

The Masovian voivodeship's government is headed by the province's voivode (governor) who is appointed by the Polish Prime Minister. The voivode is then assisted in performing his duties by the voivodeship's marshal, who is the appointed speaker for the voivodeship's executive and is elected by the sejmik (provincial assembly). The current voivode of Masovia is Konstanty Radziwiłł.

The Sejmik of Masovia consists of 51 members.

Voivodes

Term start	Term end	Voivode		Party	Other high offices held
1 January 1999^[6]	20 October 2001		Antoni Pietkiewicz	AWS	Voivode of Kalisz (1990–1991)
21 October 2001^[7]	10 January 2006		Leszek Mizieliński	SLD	Masovian vice-marshal (1998–2001)
10 January 2006^[8]	17 January 2007		Tomasz Koziński	PiS	Mayor of Praga-Południe (2002–2006)
18 January 2007^[9]	1 February 2007		Wojciech Dąbrowski	PiS	Mayor of Żoliborz (2004–2006)
15 February 2007^[10]	29 November 2007		Jacek Sasin	PiS	Deputy PM (since 2019), MP (since 2011)
29 November 2007^[11]	8 December 2015		Jacek Kozłowski	PO	Vice-Chairman of Poland 2050
8 December 2015	11 November 2019		Zdzisław Sipiera	PiS	Mayor of Wola (2005–2006), MP (2019–2023)
25 November 2019	31 March 2023		Konstanty Radziwiłł	PiS	Minister of Health (2015–2018), MP (2015–2019)
31 March 2023	13 December 2023		Tobiasz Bocheński	PiS	Łódź Voivode (2019-2023)
13 December 2023	Incumbent		Mariusz Frankowski	PO	Deputy director of strategy and regional development of the Masovian Vovoideship in the Marshal's Office (2007-2011) Warsaw city councilor (2018-2023),

Protected areas

 

A moose in the Kampinos National Park (a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve)

Protected areas in Masovian Voivodeship include one National Park and nine Landscape Parks. These are listed below.

• Kampinos National Park (a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve)
• Bolimów Landscape Park (partly in Łódź Voivodeship)
• Brudzeń Landscape Park
• Bug Landscape Park
• Chojnów Landscape Park
• Górzno-Lidzbark Landscape Park (partly in Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeships)
• Gostynin-Włocławek Landscape Park (partly in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship)
• Kozienice Landscape Park
• Masovian Landscape Park
• Podlaskie Bug Gorge Landscape Park (partly in Lublin Voivodeship)

Historical

 

Historical regions in present-day Masovian Voivodeship and in Poland

Masovian Voivodeship (1526–1795)

Further information: Masovian Voivodeship (1526–1795)

Masovia Voivodeship, 1526–1795 (Polish: Województwo Mazowieckie) was an administrative region of the Kingdom of Poland, and of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, from the 15th century until the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1795). Together with Płock and Rawa Voivodeships, it formed the province (prowincja) of Masovia.

Masovian Voivodeship (1816–1837)

Masovian Voivodeship was one of the voivodeships of Congress Poland. It was formed from the Warsaw Department and transformed into the Masovia Governorate.

Transport

 

Koleje Mazowieckie (Masovian Railways)

Three major international road routes pass through the voivodeship: Cork–Berlin–Poznań–Warszawa–Minsk–Moscow–Omsk (European route E30), Prague–Wrocław–Warsaw–Białystok–Helsinki (E67) and Pskov–Gdańsk–Warsaw–Kraków–Budapest (E77).

Currently, there are various stretches of highways in the area, with the A2 highway connecting the region, and therefore the capital city, with the rest of Europe. The highway passes directly through the voivodeship from west to east, connecting it with Belarus and Germany. However, the A2 is yet to be built east of Warsaw to connect Poland with Belarus. The S7 expressway runs through Poland from the north to the south passing through Warsaw, the S8 connects Warsaw with Białystok, in the neighboring north-eastern province, also forming part of the Via Baltica which heads on to Lithuania, and to Wrocław in the south-west, and the S17 being built to connect Warsaw with Lublin in the south-east and on to Ukraine.

The two main railway carriers operating in the region are the regional Koleje Mazowieckie and nationwide PKP Intercity.

The main international airport in the region is Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport.

Economy

Masovian Voivodeship is the wealthiest province in Poland. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was PLN 596 billion in 2021, accounting for 22.8% of the Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was around PLN123,000in the same year.^[12]

Unemployment

The unemployment rate stood at 4.8% in 2017 and was higher than the national and the European average.^[13]

Year	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
unemployment rate (in %)	12.3	9.1	6.0	6.0	7.4	7.9	8.0	8.0	7.2	6.4	5.5	4.8

Gallery

•  
  Płock Cathedral, burial site of Polish monarchs
•  
  Warsaw Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
•  
  Liw Castle
•  
  Saint Catherine of Alexandria church in Radom
•  
  Palace in Otwock Wielki
•  
  Szydłowiec Town Hall
•  
  Wilanów Palace in Warsaw
•  
  Łyszkiewicz Apartment in Warsaw, birthplace of Marie Curie, presently a museum of the Nobel Prize winner
•  
  Sobański Palace in Guzów
•  
  Birthplace of Frédéric Chopin in Żelazowa Wola, presently a museum of the composer
•  
  Modlin Fortress

See also

• Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939)

References

1. GUS. . stat.gov.pl. Archived from the original on 2021-04-19. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
2. "EU regions by GDP, Eurostat". Retrieved 18 September 2023.
3. "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
4. "WHY WARSAW? - Aquatherm Warsaw". Retrieved 10 April 2017.
5. Internet, JSK. . Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
6. "Bez lubuskiego i świętokrzyskiego - Archiwum Rzeczpospolitej". archiwum.rp.pl. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
7. Redakcja (2017-01-16). "Zmarł Leszek Mizieliński, były wojewoda mazowiecki". Echo Dnia Radomskie (in Polish). Retrieved 2022-05-03.
8. "Tomasz Koziński Radny m.st. Warszawy". um.warszawa.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2022-05-03.
9. "Wprost: Dąbrowski jeździł pijany na rowerze". Serwis Samorządowy PAP (in Polish). Retrieved 2022-05-03.
10. "Jacek Sasin". businessinsider.com.pl. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
11. Polska, Grupa Wirtualna. "Jacek Kozłowski ponownie wojewodą mazowieckim". www.money.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2022-05-03.
12. "Oto gdzie powstaje polski PKB. Najszybciej rozwija się Pomorze". Businessinsider (in Polish). 2022-12-30. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
13. "Regional Unemployment by NUTS2 Region". Eurostat.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Masovian Voivodeship.

• Official website