Braniewo poviat - district in the north Poland, in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, on the historical site Warmia, near the border with Kaliningrad Oblast. The city is the seat of the poviat authorities Braniewo.
Geography
The poviat is located in northern Poland in Warmia. The Braniewo Poviat borders from the north with the Kaliningrad Oblast, from the east with Bartoszyce poviat, from the south-east with Lidzbark County, from the west with Elbląg districtand from the northwest with Nowodworski poviat.
An administrative division
The poviat consists of:
- municipalities: Braniewo
- urban-rural communes: Frombork, Pieniężno
- the rural communes of: Braniewo, Lelkowo, Płoskinia, Wileczyta
- cities: Braniewo, Frombork, Pieniężno
Drive
By car
The best way to get to the poviat is by expressway or other smaller roads. The best and only expressway running through the district is the E28 road. Apart from it, the DK54 runs through the poviat.
There are two road border crossing points with the Russian Federation (in Gronów and Grzechotki) in the county.
By train
By bus
By ship
By plane
History
The Braniewo Poviat was established by the decision of the Council of Ministers on May 29, 1946 in the pre-war Braniewo (Kreis Braunsberg) and Świętomiejski poviats (of the latter 1/3 the southern part, which was on the Polish side of the border). The then poviat included two cities - Braniewo and Orneta (from 1959 - three, when Frombork regained its municipal rights), nine rural communes divided into 98 municipalities. The area of the poviat was 1,299 km².
Liquidated as a result of the administrative reform of 1975, restored on January 1, 1999.
Historical monuments
Braniewo
- The tower of the former Bishop's Castle
- Mary's Granary
- Historic railway station
- St. Trinity
- The building of the City Hall
- Hosianum Jesuit College in Braniewo
- St. Catherine of Alexandria
- The house of converts from 1718
- Holy Cross Sanctuary
Basilica of St. Saint Catherine in Braniewo - Soviet T-34 tank
Tolkmicko
- historic tenement houses in the city center
- remains of the Old Prussian stronghold of Wały Tolkmita
- parish church st. James the Apostle from the 15th century
- Polish Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Angels
Frombork
- The Cathedral Hill Complex
- Archcathedral Basilica of the WNMP
- Nicolaus Copernicus Museum (former bishop's palace)
- The new bishop's palace
- The post-evangelical church of St. Wojciech
- Sailors' Tower from the 15th century
- St. Of the Spirit and the Chapel of St. Anna - Museum of the History of Medicine
The weather
- Historic church from the 14th century
- Cemetery chapel in Pogrodz
- wooden huts
Tourism
Tourist routes
The most important routes running through the Braniewo poviat are:
- Copernicus Trail (pedestrian and car)
- Green Velo trail (cycling)
Museums
- Nicolaus Copernicus Museum in Frombork
- Missionary and Ethnographic Museum of the Divine Word Missionaries in Pieniężno
- Museum of the History of Medicine in Frombork
- Nicolaus Copernicus Museum in the former bishop's palace
- Gallery of the Society of Friends of Art
- Galeria Amber Top Dorota Hryniewicz
- Open-air museum of agricultural machines
Nature conservation
The natural environment is little transformed and relatively little polluted. For centuries, Braniewo and its surroundings have been known for their values. There are many sightseeing attractions here. In the poviat, you can find magnificent natural monuments and a number of protected areas, including four nature reserves. These are:
- Wałsza River Valley Reserve
- Ostoja Bobrów Reserve on the Pasłęka River - created to protect the beavers living in the area of the Pasłęka River. It covers the Pasłęka River (from its sources to the city of Braniewo), its tributaries, surrounding lakes, meadows and forests. The reserve is home to such protected species as: bats, squirrel, weasel and hedgehog. It is also worth mentioning rare and interesting species of birds found in this area, such as: black stork, woodpecker, osprey, kingfisher. The reserve also includes forests and meadows where protected plants grow, such as: laurel laurel, common currant, hepatica and lily of the valley.
- "Osiek II" peat bog reserve
- Cielętnik Reserve - established in order to preserve the position of a low birch growing on a low peat bog. Low birch is a species under strict protection. As the name suggests, it is not tall, it grows up to a maximum of 2.2 meters in height. This is called a glacial relic, a remnant of the last glacial period. Low birch is a species so rare that it was listed in the last edition of the "Polish Red Book of Plants" as "endangered plants". Among the rare and interesting plant species in the reserve, we can see the swarthy willow, marsh blackberry, peat violet (considered dying in Poland), and highly poisonous raging venom. There are also orchids. The bog was drained in the past. This change in water conditions and shading is probably the reason for the disappearance of the low birch, which once had one of the largest sites in the Masurian Lake District here. At present, it is easier to weave low birch outside the reserve. It is planned to enlarge the area of the reserve and include it in the NATURA 2000 system. The areas adjacent to the Vistula Lagoon have gained the rank of areas of international importance in the structure of the European Ecological Network EECONET. They require special protection.
Moreover, the Pasłęka river itself is very beautiful and is an interesting and diversified water route in terms of sightseeing. It runs in Gryźliny near Ostróda, and flows into the Vistula Lagoon in Nowa Pasłęka. The Pasłęka estuary is an important area for waterfowl. One of the two largest concentrations of water birds was observed here (the other area of similar value is the Elbląg Bay). This is due to the fact that the waters of the Lagoon at the mouth of the river do not freeze in winter, thanks to which water birds can rest here and get food.
Zoological and botanical garden
In Braniewo there is the smallest in Poland and the only one in the voivodeship zoological and botanical garden. It was established in the 1950s on the initiative of Zdzisław Butkiewicz, in a medieval defensive moat, on the site of a pre-war botanical garden. The existence of the Braniewo ZOO was found out in Poland thanks to the escape of two bear cubs who had been wandering around the city for several hours. After this event, cooperation was established with the Oliwa Zoo, from which new animals were obtained. In 1987, the expansion of the facility began. In its heyday, it consisted of about 200 species of animals. Today, in the Braniewo garden, you can see: unique vegetation (e.g. tulip tree, Japanese ginkgo, pyramidal oak) and animals (lama, Przewalski's horse, maned sheep, peacock, donkey, anui, Himalayan and brown bear, monkeys, parrots, pigs) sea animals, rabbits, pheasants, yak, swans). The zoo is open from May 1 to September 30 from 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. (the ticket office is open until 5.00 p.m.)
Economy
The unemployment rate of the Braniewo poviat in 2008 reached 29.5%. The long-term unemployed as well as the economically and inactive have a significant share in this number.
Research shows that entrepreneurs from the Braniewo poviat use conservative or protective measures, which means that all their attention is focused on survival, not development. At the same time, the labor market in the Braniewo poviat shows a certain stability - employers are constantly looking for employees with specific occupations. The shortage occupations in the second half of 2008 distinguished from large groups of occupations were: managers of large organizations, office staff, teachers and simple workers in trade and services.
In 2012, the income of the poviat budget amounted to PLN 19.4 million and the expenditure to PLN 21.5 million.