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Mazowsze Mazowsze Mazowsze (Mazovia) is an historical and ethnographic region in central Poland, straddling the Vistula River. The Mazovian Lowland is one of Poland's most extensive geographical regions. Its natural extension is the Podlassian Lowland at the confluence of the Narew and Biebrza Rivers and the basin of the middle Bug. As the two lowlands are difficult to separate, sometimes they are referred to as the Mazovian-Podlassian Lowland. Historically, Mazovia is one of the oldest parts of Poland. Since the times of the first Polish prince, Duke Mieszko I, it was ruled by members of the Piast dynasty; in the 12th century an independent Mazovian principality came into being (many formidable Gothic castles and opulent churches that now dot Mazovia were built at that time) and in the 16th century all of Mazovia and Podlassia was incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland under Sigismundus I the Elder. Towns on major trade routes - Warsaw, Pultusk, Plock and Lomza - flourished. The centrally located Warsaw developed rapidly as a political, economic and cultural centre. In 1596 King Sigismund III Vasa made it his principal residence and thus Cracow ceased to be Poland's capital. With scores of monuments, museums, theatres, galleries and shopping centres, Warsaw is of course Mazovia's strongest tourist attraction. Many visitors from Poland and abroad flock to Żelazowa Wola, Chopin's birthplace. Another city worth visiting is Łódz - if only to take a stroll down ulica Piotrkowska, Europe's longest shopping street with the biggest concentration of pubs, nightclubs and restaurants in the country. Above all, however, Mazovia and Podlassia have a magnificent natural countryside, in many instances unique in Europe

• Białowieża Forest (Puszcza Białowieska) (4191) Some 200 km north-east of Warsaw, you'll find Europe's largest natural forest, the Puszcza Bialowieska (Białowieża Forest - 150,000 ha, of which 65,000 belong to Poland, and the rest to Belarus), the last patch of the primaeval forest that once extended across the European lowlands. The Białowieża National Park (Poland's oldest, established in 1932) has been inscribed on the list of World Biosphere Reserves and the UNESCO World Heritage List.  • Frederic Chopin (2988) Born to French/Polish parents in the village of Żelazowa Wola Fryderyk Chopin stands out as Poland's finest composer, and to this day remains a national icon.  • Kampinos National Park (Kampinoski Park Narodowy) (3348) North-west of Warsaw stretches the magnificent Puszcza Kampinoska (Kampinoska Forest). A protected area of this size and importance lying in the direct proximity of a big city is unusual in the world.  • The Narew and Biebrza Rivers (3309) The north-eastern part of Podlassia is one of the most beautiful and wildest areas in Poland. Here you'll find the Biebrza floodplain, the largest and best preserved natural peatland in Europe, protected by the international Ramsar Convention which protects wetlands of great natural value and important as waterfowl habitats  • Warsaw (Warszawa) (3267) Before the Second World War Warsaw was called the Paris of the North, but on the other hand always being degraded to the role of an ugly city to be compared with its ancient rival, Cracow - obviously in favour of the latter. Nowadays Warsaw is certainly a different city, not so orderly and growing systematically for centuries as Cracow. Razed to the ground during the War, it was rebuilt with devotion, but rather chaotically, with so many open spaces and unfinished squares left that it lost much of its previous charm.  • Łódź (3000) With a population of almost 800,000, Łódz is Poland's second largest city. For centuries just a small farming settlement, in the early 19th century it rapidly grew into a major centre of the textile industry. Soon dubbed "a promised land", the city attracted thousands of merchants, industrialists and architects, predominantly Germans and Jews (before the Second World War they accounted for half of Lódz's inhabitants).  • Żelazowa Wola (3321) A small village on the Utrata River, picturesquely located among the meadows around 50 km west of Warsaw. It was here that in 1810, Fryderyk Chopin - the world famous composer was born. The manor courtyard, often called "Chopin's Manor", in which he was born, is now a museum, with portraits of the composer and his family as well as furniture from the time of his birth.