Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country located in Central Europe.
It is divided into 16 administrative provinces, covering an area of 312,696 km², and has a largely temperate seasonal climate.
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2nd constitution in the world
Poland adopted its first written constitution in the spring of 1791, which was the 2nd in the world valid legal document of the kind.
However, it was only in effect for only 14 months and 3 weeks before Poland was in partitions for over 100 years.
Valentine’s day
Kupała or Wianki is celebrated on June 21st, the ‘Feast of St. John the Baptist’ day.
Men jump over bonfires and, women hope for wreaths.
Wreaths with candles on one side of the river are floated to the other side and if one comes to you, you’ll be lucky in love.
No wearing a hat indoors
If you wear a hat inside someone’s home or church it’s a sign of disrespect.
While young people generally don’t mind, the older generation might feel uncomfortable.
World’s biggest castle
Poland has an impressive 16 World Heritage Sites and among them the biggest castle in the world – Malbork.
Measured by the area. Prague castle often claims to be the world’s largest, but it’s not since it’s not a single area.
World’s tallest structure
The Warsaw radio mast in Konstantynow was the world’s tallest structure from 1974, until its collapse in 1991.
It was the second tallest structure ever built after Burj Khalifa, completed in 2010. The mast was 646.38 meters (2,120.7 ft) tall.
Last names
Names that end with –ski/ska or –cka/cki work like adjectives and need to match the gender in Polish.
So, if your father’s name is Kowalski, if you’re a female you’ll be called Kowalska.
All Polish surnames in the US are a male version.
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Modern Kerosene lamp
In 1853, Ignacy Lukasiewicz introduced the first modern street lamp from in Europe.
His lamp inventions were, however, first used in Lviv in Ukraine.
There is still a street in Warsaw that uses the same street lamps until today.
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