ABOUT BIAŁYSTOK
Lipowa Street, fot. Adam Marczak
Białystok, with a population of almost 300 000, is a city located in north-eastern Poland, serving the function of the capital of Podlaskie province. It is the administrative, economic, and academic centre of the region which, due to its exceptional environmental assets, has been termed the Green Lungs of Poland.
The location in the environmentally clean region, full of tourist attractions, as well as the rich infrastructure of Białystok, makes the city and surrounding area a great place for living, recreation and development of tourism.
Białystok has evolved as a place which is the melting pot of different nations, religions, cultures, customs and traditions, where the occidental rationalism meets the oriental mysticism. It has become an example of the integration of ethnic and religious groups, a meeting place for Poles, Belorussians, Jews, Lithuanians, Germans, Russians, Ukrainians, Romanies, Muslims and Tatars. The multiethnicity of the city was the reason for the Białystok-born Ludwik Zamenhof to start his work on the universal language of Esperanto.
The location of Białystok, in the proximity of borders with Belarus, Lithuania and Russia, as well as the convenient transportation links, create excellent conditions for developing economic and cultural contacts with the countries of Eastern and Western Europe.