(Baonghean.vn) - On the occasion of the Polish President's visit to Vietnam from November 27-30, let's explore some interesting facts about this country.
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| The official name of Poland is Rzeczpospolita Polska (Republic of Poland). The country has an area of 120,562 square miles (312,255 km²).2Poland is slightly smaller than New Mexico. Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. |
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| Warsaw became the capital of Poland in 1918 and is the only city in Europe with a nature reserve – the Jeziorko Czerniakowskie, located in the city center. Warsaw is also known as the “phoenix city” due to its remarkable recovery after being almost completely destroyed during World War I. Warsaw has a smart government system with 18 districts, each with its own administrative body. Warsaw is also home to the world's first official library, opened in 1747. |
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| The Polish flag has two equal horizontal stripes of white and red. The colors are derived from Polish symbolism. The Polish national anthem is Dąbrowski's Mazurka, often called “Jeszcze Polska zginęla nie”, written in 1797 by Jozef Wybicki. |
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| With 380,000 acres (150,000 ha), the Białowieża Primeval forest in Poland is Europe's last remaining ancient forest, home to 800 European bison, the heaviest land animal on the continent. |
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| The first recorded ruler of Poland in history was Mieszko, around 963. In 966, Mieszko introduced Christianity, placing Poland, a predominantly Latin American country, within the orbit of Latin American culture. (Pictured: In 1922, Gabriel Narutowicz became Poland's first democratically elected president.) |
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| Poland is the only country in Europe that never officially collaborated with Nazi Germany at any level, and no Polish units fought alongside the Nazi army. Poland never officially surrendered to Germany, and the Polish resistance movements during the German occupation of Poland in World War II were the largest resistance movements in Europe. Pictured: Polish cavalry in the Battle of Bzura, the largest battle between Germany and Poland in World War II. |
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| The Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland, one of the oldest salt mines in the world, is located in the southern Polish town of Wieliczka. Built in the 13th century, it continued producing salt until 2007. Attractions within the mine include dozens of statues, three chapels, and an entire church carved from rock salt by the miners. The Wieliczka Salt Mine is often referred to as the Underground Salt Church of Poland. (Pictured: Stairs descending into the salt mine.) |
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| Jagiellonian University of Krakow was founded by King Casimir III the Great in 1364 and is the oldest university in Poland and the second oldest in Central Europe. |
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| Marie Curie (Manya Sklodowska) was born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 7, 1867. She moved to Paris in early 1880 and married the Frenchman Pierre Curie in 1895. Together with her husband, she discovered the elements polonium (Po), named after her native Poland, in the summer of 1898, and later radium (Ra). She coined the term "radioactivity" and won the Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband and colleague Henri Becquerel in 1903. Marie was the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne University in Paris. She won her second Nobel Prize in 1911 for her research on pure radium. |
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| Poland has won a total of 17 Nobel Prizes (more than Japan, China, India, and Australia), including 4 Nobel Peace Prizes and 5 Nobel Literature Prizes. |
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| Frédéric François Chopin (Fryderyk Franciszek Szopen) is the most famous Polish composer. Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola, Poland in 1810. The Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition is one of the oldest music competitions in the world, founded by Polish professor Jerzy Zurawiew. The first competition took place in January 1927 at the Warsaw Philharmonic. Since then, the competition has been held every five years. |
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| Polish writer Stanisław Lem is known as one of the world's greatest science fiction writers. His novel Solaris was adapted into a film in 2002. |
Kim Ngoc
(Synthetic)
