Olsztyn Olsztyn Lódz Category="Cities in Poland"Category="Olsztyn"Category="Urban counties of Warmia-Masuria"Category="Warmia-Masuria"

Olsztyn
[image][image]
(Flag)(Coat of Arms)
Motto: none
[image]
VoivodshipWarmia i Mazury
Municipal governmentRada Miasta Olsztyn
Mayor Czesław Jerzy Małkowski
Area87,89 km˛
Population
 - city
 - urban
 - density 		173 850
-
1972/km˛
Founded
City rights		-
-31.10.1353
Latitude
Longitude		53°47' N
20°30' E
Area code+48 89
Car platesNO
Twin townsCalpe, Chateauroux, Gelsenkirchen, Kaliningrad, Łuck, Offenburg, Richmond, Rouaniemi
Municipal Website

Olsztyn (pronounce: [image] [:ɔlʃtin], German Allenstein) is a city in northeast Poland, historically capital of Warmia, on the Lyna River, with a population of 173,850 (2005). Olsztyn is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodship, previously Olsztyn Voivodship.

Geography

The town is beautifully situated in a lake region of forests and plains, barely touched by man. There are 13 lakes inside the administrative bounds of the town and many more surrounding it: (Krzywe, Długie, Żbik, Redykajny and others).

History

Economy

For Industry, it features a Tire company, Stomil, a subsidiary of Michelin. There are also Food processing plants and Furniture manufacturers.

Buildings

Education

Regional and scientific societies

Sports

Famous people

Politics

Olsztyn constituency

Members of the Seym (Sejm) elected from Olsztyn constituency in 2005

Members of the Senate (Senat) elected from Olsztyn constituency in 2005

Postage stamps

[image]

Originally the town was in a district of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights. Then, as of 1466, it was a capital city of the Polish province of Warmia. In 1920 a plebiscite was held to determine whether the people wished to become part of East Prussia or Poland. In order to avoid bias, and to advertise the plebiscite, special postage stamps were produced by overprinting German stamps and sold from 3 April. One kind of overprint read PLÉBISCITE / OLSZTYN / ALLENSTEIN, while the other read TRAITÉ / DE / VERSAILLES / ART. 94 et 95 inside an oval whose border gave the full name of the plebiscite commission. Each overprint was applied to 14 denominations ranging from 5pf to 3m.

The plebiscite was held on 11 July, and produced 362,209 votes (97.8 percent) for Germany and 7,980 votes (2.2 percent) for Poland. The stamps became invalid 20 August. Despite the short period of use, almost all the types of these stamps are cheaply available both used and unused. The relatively large portion of southern East Prussia contained in the plebescite area thus remained part of Germany until after World War II, when it was transferred to Poland.

External links:

 
Poland \		[image]
Voivodships of Poland
Greater Poland | Kuyavia-Pomerania | Lesser Poland | Lower Silesia | Lublin | Lubusz | Łódź | Masovia | Opole | Podlachia | Pomerania | Silesia | Subcarpathia | Świętokrzyskie | Warmia and Masuria | West Pomerania
Principal cities
Warsaw | Łódź | Kraków | Wrocław | Poznań | Gdańsk | Szczecin | Bydgoszcz | Lublin | Katowice | Białystok | Częstochowa | Gdynia | Gorzów Wlkp. | Toruń | Radom | Kielce | Rzeszów | Olsztyn