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Subnational Flags (Poland)

Vojvodships and Counties (Powiatu)

Last modified: 2009-08-22 by jarig bakker
Keywords: vojvodship | wojewodztwo | county |
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New polish voivodships and counties (powiatu)

Dolnośląskie (DS) - Wrocław (capital) (Lower Silesia)
Dolnośląskie counties and municipalities Kujawsko-pomorskie (KP) - Bydgoszcz (capital and largest city) & Toruń (seat of regional council) - (Cuiavia-Pomerania)
Kujawsko-pomorskie counties and municipalities Lubuskie (LB) - Gorzów & Zielona Góra (Lubuskia)
Lubuskie counties and municipalities. Łódzkie (LD) - Łódź (Lodzia)
Łódzkie counties and municipalities Lubelskie (LU) - Lublin (Lublinia)
Lubelskie counties and municipalities Mazowieckie (MA) - Warszawa (Mazovia or Warsawia)
Mazowieckie counties and municipalities Małopolskie (MP) - Kraków (Little Poland or Cracovia)
Malopolskie counties and municipalities Opolskie (OP) - Opole (Opola)
Opolskie counties and municipalities Podlaskie (PD) - Białystok (Bialystokia)
Podlaskie counties and municipalities Podkarpackie (PK) - Rzeszów (Subcarpathia)
Podkarpackie counties and municipalities Pomorskie (PM) - Gdańsk (East Pomerania)
Pomorskie counties and municipalities Śląskie (SL) - Katowice (Upper Silesia)
Śląskie counties and municipalities Świętokrzyskie (SW) - Kielce (Kielceian (or Holyroodian, after the name of the highest peak in Holyrood mountains)
Świętokrzyskie counties and municipalities Warmińsko-mazurskie (WM) - Olsztyn (Mazuria)
Warmińsko-mazurskie communes and counties Wielkopolskie (WP) - Poznań (Great Poland or Posnania)
Wielkopolskie counties and municipalities Zachodniopomorskie (ZP) - Szczecin (West Pomerania)
Zachodniopomorskie counties and municipalities Info by Gwidon S. Naskrent, 15 Dec 2000

Old and new voivodships

On July 18, 1998, the Sejm, which is the lower house of Polish Parliament, approved legislation transforming Poland's 49 provinces into 16 new ones, a process which is part of an administrative reform. The Sejm voted 326-45-41 for the measure, one of many in a package of legislation aimed at doing away with the communist era administration and shifting power to local governments. On July 27, 1998, President Aleksander Kwasniewski signed into law a bill dividing Poland into 16 new provinces. On August 7, 1998, the government decided there will be 308 counties (powiaty) in Poland. A number of cities (65 of them) will have county rights. The decentralization, being a result of territorial reform which will take effect on January 1, 1999, has broad support. These decisions ended the argument concerning administrative reform. (Info from this site)
Jarig Bakker, 31 Aug 2000

Common patterns in county flags

Why do some Polish counties have a triangular fly and others do not? Do they represent some specific region, and therefore the shape is indicative of this situation?
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 30 Oct 2001

County flags have been designed only since the regional reorganization of 1999, so it's quite early to look for common patterns. So far there are two regional patterns:
1. Malopolskie vojvodship: some counties, but by no means all, use the civic Malopolskie flag with the Coat of Arms of the county in the center.
2. Wielkopolskie vojvodship: the Wielkopolskie flag has the trapezoid pattern, now taken over by several (but not all) counties.
Jarig Bakker, 30 Oct 2001

The development of the Polish city flags in the centuries

Throughout the centuries, banners were developed as symbols of municipal self-government.
During the times of the 1st Republic, the municipal banners were, most often, sort of the battle-recognition's signs and were commonly showing the Arms on a
piece of cloth. In the 19th century it became more common to use the colors taken from the Arms.
Between the two World Wars, in the reborn 2nd Republic, the municipal were seen more and more often.
After World War II, during the so-called "People's Republic" and the communist antipathy to anything heraldic, they didn't cease to exist somehow, and after 1990, in the re-established independent 3rd Republic they continue to appear in wide numbers.
Source: this website.
Chris Kretowicz, 16 Jan 2006