voivodeship of Poland
Europe > Central Europe > Poland > Opole Voivodeship

Opole Voivodeship (Polish: województwo opolskie) is one of the 16 voivodeships (administrative provinces) of Poland. It is in the south of the country. Its name derived from its capital city, Opole. The region has been a part of Poland since the beginning of the Polish statehood, with many remains of the ancient Polish Piast dynasty to be found to this day, but has found itself at the crossroads of history becoming incorporated to erstwhile Czech Kingdom, Austria, Prussia and Germany. Reincorporated to Poland after Second World War, the region remains the only one in the country with significant (and legally recognized) German minority, with bilingual signage and German in everyday use in some municipalities.

Cities

edit
Map
Map of Opole Voivodeship
Map of Opole Voivodeship

  • 1 Opole — capital at the Odra River with a Gothic Cathedral and a Neo-Renaissance town hall
  • 2 Biała — has a castle and Prudnicka Tower from the 15th century
  • 3 Kędzierzyn-Koźle
  • 4 Nysa — medieval town at the Nysa River
  • 5 Brzeg — Renaissance town at the Odra River
  • 6 Prudnik
  • 7 Moszna
Opole at night

Other destinations

edit
Moszna Castle
Museum of Triassic tetrapods at Krasiejów
  • 1 Moszna Castle (Pałac w Mosznej) in Moszna
  • 2 Jurapark Krasiejów in Krasiejów – Dinosaur-themed park built next to active excavations and palaeontological museums.

Understand

edit
Brzeg

In the early Middle Ages the present voivodeship was part of Silesia, which was a part of Poland since the 10th century. When in 1138 the Seniorate of Poland was formed, Silesia was one of the Polish duchies and several Silesian dukes were Seniors of Poland until the late 13th century. In the 12th and 13th century, Silesia fell apart into several duchies, of which Opole and Nysa are in the present Polish voivodeship. In the 14th century, they came under Czech rule. At time the majority of the population was germanized. Bohemia was ruled at this time by the German Luxembourg, later the Polish Jagiellonians and finally by the Austrian Habsburgs. In 1741 Prussia annexed the region from Austria. After World War I and the Silesian Uprisings the inhabitants voted to remain largely a part of Germany but still had a significantly large Polish minority. After World War II the region became part of Poland and most of its German population was expelled. Nowadays it is in the south-west of the country and home to many ethnic minorities including most of Poland's Germans and the Silesians.

Talk

edit

Polish is the first language, as in all of Poland. Therefore, everyone speaks it. German plays a historic role in the region and some towns and cities are bi-lingual because of the German-speaking minority. There are even German-language newspapers and schools. Silesian, a Slavic minority language is also spoken in most of the Opole/Upper Silesia region. English and German may be spoken by the young.

Get in

edit

By plane

edit

Opole Voivodeship has no international airport. The nearest international airports are Katowice's Katowice-Pyrzowice Airport (KTW IATA) and Wrocław's Copernicus Airport (WRO IATA). Both cities are within 100 km range of voivodeship and have good train and bus connections with the region.

Get around

edit

The Moszna Castle was built during different time periods and provides an example of numerous architectural styles. It is now used as a hospice house, hotel, and restaurant. Tourists can walk its grounds free of charge.

Visit Nysa, Opole and the surrounding lakes.

Drink

edit

Stay safe

edit

Go next

edit

Opole Voivodeship borders four other Polish voivodeships:

as well as the Czech Republic.

This region travel guide to Opole Voivodeship is an outline and may need more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. If there are Cities and Other destinations listed, they may not all be at usable status or there may not be a valid regional structure and a "Get in" section describing all of the typical ways to get here. Please plunge forward and help it grow!