rzeszw

Rzeszw (pronounce: ['ʒεʃuv]) is a city in south-eastern Poland with a population of 159,649 (2003), granted a town charter in 1354, the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodship (since 1999), previously of Rzeszow Voivodship (1945-1998). In 2004, Rzeszw hosted the Central European Olympiad in Informatics (CEOI).

Location

Rzeszow is located on both sides of the Wislok river. It is located in the heartland of the Sandomierska valley. Rzeszow is also the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodship, and site of the Rzeszow County.

History

Rzeszw was founded in 1354 by king Kaziemierz Wielki. For a long time it was just a domain of noble family of Lubomirski, one of most important in Poland. Beside famous yearly market Rzeszow remained only another city on trade route to Hungary. In 1658 Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski established Piarist school, the second secondary school in Poland. During XIX century Rzeszw began to loose significance in favour of Przemysl. Development of Rzeszw started when in year 1937 military industry was located in the city: Polskie Zakłady Lotnicze, producing plane engines, and factory of cannons by Hipolit Cegielski. In 1944 Rzeszw became capital of voivodship and most important city in south-eastern Poland. Many factories were built in next 30 years. Nowaday, Rzeszw is continiously growing in population, new villiges join the city and a lot of work is made to modernise it.

Education

Rzeszw is the largest academic centre in south-eastern Poland. Several high schools and universities can be found there:

University of Rzeszw (established in 2001)
Technical University of Rzeszw (established in 1963)
Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki i Zarządzania

Branches in Dębica, Krosno and Nisko

Wyższa Szkoła Zarządzania
Wyższa Szkoła Administracji i Zarządzania in Przemyśl, branch in Rzeszw

Transport

Transit

Rzeszw is located on international route number 4, connecting Germany and Ukraine. Traffic is therefore high, but as city has south distict, transit does not go through the city centre.

Airport

Rzeszw Airport is located in the village of Jasionka north of the city. Domestic flights to Warsaw (WAW) are the only scheduled passenger service.

Buses

Rzeszw is a gateway to Bieszczady mountains, many buses head to Sanok.

Railway

Rzeszw is a step of main railway from Silesia to Polish eastern border and further to the Ukraine. Big railway station was established in XIX century. There is also a unique, not electrified railway to Jaslo.