“FBI, open up!” We’ve all seen films where a team of armed law-enforcement officers storms a bad-guy hideout – usually all dressed up with the characteristic, bullet-proof vests. These vests have their own history, the origins of which can be traced back to a Polish inventor.
If you ever happen to watch the late 20th century films from Poland that take place in a sandy desert, chances are they were filmed… locally. Meet Polish deserts and dunes – truly unique, natural landmarks.
In 1945, Warsaw had been destroyed to such an extent that the only place which offered conditions for reopening foreign embassies was the centrally-located Hotel Polonia. Looking for France? Room 22, s'il vous plaît.
Among Polish dishes, one has enjoyed unfading popularity over the centuries. It is still among the most recognizable flavors of Poland. And a reason why in many Polish houses, during the cold seasons, you may notice a hint of cabbage smell coming from the kitchen.
Along with its counterpart in Gdańsk, Poland, this Czech masterpiece of medieval engineering gives you as many details on time and astronomy as the present-day three iPhone widgets.
Some four hundred kilometers from the nearest seashore, a former quarry in Kadzielnia is home to remains of a coral reef, not dissimilar to that near the Bahamas.
Commonly known as a "Maluch” (Eng: "the little one”), the Fiat 126p was a car that Poles dreamed of for decades. Even though it's been out of production for years, it is still attracting unexpected admirers. Like Tom Hanks (yes - that one).
In one famous photo, a woman dines in her house at the table together with a half-ton wild boar. The same woman grieved the loss of her lynx as if it was her daughter. Am I talking about a fictional character from children’s books? No. In fact, I am recalling an actual Polish larger-than-life zoopsychologist.
After Polish tennis player Iga Świątek won the US Open, commentators from all around the world struggled to pronounce her name. Here’s how to do it right.
The disputed identity of the famous Medieval monk, scholar, astronomer, manager, and economist was made clear after the recent exhumation of his supposed tomb.
The iconic Palace of Culture and Science is a monumental skyscraper in Warsaw's city center, now considered somewhat controversial due to its Stalinist genesis. Even so, it turns out that Varsovians now have a soft spot for this cultural landmark and do not want to see it demolished.
In one scene of "Return of the Jedi," a protocolar android addresses a person in Polish. Was Jabba the Hut's servant a Socialist economic migrant, or did American producers just want to impress viewers with an exotic language?
The apple. Such a ‘common’ fruit. So common, in fact, you might think that this staple of your 5 a day is simple to grow wherever you live. Rightly so. But did you know that globally the most apples consumed come from Poland?
They come in many sweet and savory varieties – wild berry, cabbage-and-mushroom, meat, and white cheese among the classic fillings. But there is one particular version of this classic Polish dish that has inspired mixed feelings in recent months.
The recent archeological discovery of a 17th C. woman’s corpse buried with a sickle around her neck points directly to her being suspected of some undead activity. However, her moniker, the vampiress, isn’t entirely fitting. It’s not that she wasn’t suspected of being undead (she was), but the term “vampire” doesn’t fit her time and place.
The old Slavic custom of celebrating the harvest is still holding on strong in Poland. Dożynki, as it is called, is celebrated nationwide and provides a great way for villages to remind the city dwellers of the richness hidden in the countryside.
Depending on where you live in the world, forest mushrooms may be considered a delicacy. They can be such a luxurious product that you must pay a lot to purchase a small amount. Think about this: in the past, it was enough to go to the forest. In Poland, it still is.
It looks as if the only people spending money in 10th-century Poland were Syrians from Damascus. What were they buying with their dirhams?
People, goods, and mail were moved by air for the first time at the beginning of the 20th century. And the first regular route for long-distance air travel was between European cities in Austria-Hungary.
A bob. The symbol of strong femininity. Famously used in a short story of innocence lost, written by an American writer. However, Fitzgerald’s tale would never have been without that iconic haircut. And it so happens that a Pole wielded the scissors.
With up to 21 hectares of area, Malbork in northern Poland was, by far, the largest gothic stronghold of the Teutonic Order. It was never conquered and only changed sides for political reasons.
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, a cult novel about Spain, written in French by a Polish aristocrat and an intellectual genius, got transcribed to hypertext, shedding new light on its content.
Hel Peninsula, we mean. Not to be confused with Hell (and quite the opposite), this long, narrow strip of land has become the epitome of the Polish summer holiday.
The whole of Europe can be divided into two parts, just based on the name of this staple drink - tea. The only countries that escape this division are the former members of the Polish-Lithuania commonwealth. So, what can we glean from this fact?
It would be an understatement to say that Polish company Creotech Instruments has been moving at light speed since its founding in 2012. The company has grown from startup to space giant in a mere decade, with plans to go public on the Warsaw Stock Exchange this summer.
The RPG game “This War of Mine” about civilian life in under-siege Sarajevo was the first videogame in the world to ever make it into school curriculum.
You won’t taste it during Wimbledon, served with a dollop of cream. Nor will you experience its sweetness on a hot afternoon in Huelva. But believe me – no strawberry in the world is equal to Kashubian strawberries. And there is a paper to prove it!
Have you ever thought about how what you eat or drink may influence your perception? Had a cup of coffee this morning? Maybe a cigarette? Chances are, these could make you produce a piece of art different from what you would have created after a cup of tea with a biscuit. At least in theory.
A vital part of Romanian-Polish trade depends on the automotive industry. Consequently, the automotive industry's evolution and how the two countries adapt to industry transformation will significantly influence the future trade structure of goods between the two countries.
One restaurant is the oldest. Piwnica Świdnicka in Wrocław opened in 1275. Only slightly younger is Cracow’s Wierzynek, named after Poland's first famous restaurateur.
The video game developer, famous for its series, “The Witcher," has single-handedly turned the Polish gaming industry into a high-tech powerhouse and a global tool of cultural influence.
With two million citizens and a whopping 1.5 thousand kilometers squared, the Silesian Conurbation is a much larger urban area than the Polish capital – Warsaw. It consists of multiple cities that grew to meet each other’s borders.
The festival was also the birthplace of punk rock under communism, despite the fact that it was considered a safety mechanism to prevent a youth-led revolution against socialist power.
In 2019 right after the Polish parliamentary election, the Parliamentary Committee for Women's Rights took up a cause particular to Poland. One against the tradition of greeting women by kissing their hands.
The blockbuster screen adaptation of the famous "Chronicles of Narnia" was partially set in Poland. The country owes this to an unusual rock formation called the Errant Rocks – part of the Stołowe Mountains (Table Mountains) chain.
Thanks to massive advancements in technology, distance is becoming less and less important. In April 2021, a group of doctors from Lublin became the first in Europe to bring surgery to a realm so far only imagined in science-fiction novels.
St. Anne’s Mountain in Poland was a part of the German territory when the Nazis decided to commemorate the Battle of Annaberg with a mausoleum, theater, and a monument park. After the war, it changed allegiances and now honors members of the uprising.
Poles love their pigs – from head to tail, guts and all. Here are some examples of how deeply the “zero-waste” idea is rooted in Poland.
Starting as far back as the 15th century, people in Poland and Lithuania would pour vodka into oak barrels and bury them underground for many years. Making Starka, barrel-aged vodka, was connected to the maturing process of their children.
"Tytus, Romek i A'Tomek" was the longest-running Polish comic book series. But its creator's biography extended beyond the adventures of a monkey born from an inkblot.
Before becoming a genius physicist, Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a Polish language teacher and a national-democratic activist.
Medieval Polish historian Jan Długosz once claimed that trees in the Roztocze Forest turned to stone just a few years after death. The reality is just a bit more complicated.
In Kruszyniany, a small village in northeastern Poland, you can still experience the culture (and even cuisine) of the Tartar. Steppe Warriors were introduced as a lethal weapon against heavy German cavalry. The last Tartar families integrated into a colorful mix of cultures and religions along the eastern borders of Poland.
While Józef Piłsudski worked on his leading role in the politics of future Poland, his brother Bronisław became an ethnographer. He is credited with the only remaining recordings of a lost spoken Japanese language.
The Pionier 1907 Cinema may not be the most modern and state-of-the-art movie theater in the world, but its name is no accident. Though it recently lost its title as oldest running cinema in the world, it is still in a close second, with a title made official on a Guinness Record certificate.
The fragile situation created by a Christian kingdom vs a Christian knightly order pressured medieval Polish lawyers to expand on an ancient Roman idea.
Russia has repeatedly either "invited" Poland to take part in partitioning Ukraine or accused Poland of plans to do so. The Curzon Line, drawn a hundred years ago, helps to understand the distinction amid the current military buildup.
"The Art of Love," a guide to satisfactory sex, effective conception, and contraception, was a scandal – and an immediate success – in Poland in the 1970s.
"Mr. Blot's Academy" was a magical school described by Jan Brzechwa six decades before "Harry Potter." In the character of the Professor, some see Janusz Korczak, a pedagogue so dedicated to the Jewish orphans in his care that he went with them all the way to the gas chamber.
No more dependency on Russia for vessels crossing the Vistula Spit.
The decades-long debate between Poland and Russia over who invented vodka started to turn in Poland's favor when an A-list Hollywood star stepped in to help the old myths to die hard.
The magical combination of carrot, parsley, celery, and leek is so ubiquitous in Polish cuisine that it forms its own category called "the Italian stuff”. The tradition dates back to one dynastic marriage in the 16th century.
The A.S. Bytom Funeral Home found a thousand ways to ridicule the fear of death. It’s among the most prevalent Polish memes on the internet, and thousands perhaps still believe (or hope) it exists.
Quantum physics is not the most intuitive of scientific disciplines. The group of people who can grasp its essence is quite elite and includes a large proportion of Polish scientists. Will Polish scientists trigger a long-awaited quantum revolution?
The Medieval Wieliczka Salt Mine in southern Poland has many wonders. If a one-day visit is not enough for you, feel free to go on and just spend the night in the underground hostel.
At the end of March, Poland announced it would halt imports of Russian oil by the end of 2022, and the European Commission followed suit, proposing a ban on 4 May.
Artist and minority activist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas's work has taken the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Art 2022 by storm. Her exhibition shows tapestries, attempting to weave the history and contribution of the Roma community back into European art history.
For 50 years, the Polish company Melex has been creating EVs, which sell like hot cakes all over the world - long before electric vehicles became fashionable.
On a May day some 250 years ago, Poland declared its first-ever constitution. Along with the communist-propagated Labor Day, also in May, the celebrations for two long and storied traditions give just the right excuse for majówka - extended spring celebrations.
For the first 20 years after the political changes of 1989, it seemed to us that Poland was on the periphery of world events. This thinking was complemented by Francis Fukuyama's message about the "end of history" with the fall of the "iron curtain," the Warsaw Pact, and ultimately all evil in the form of the Soviet Union.
"Can you treat a police officer seriously when he is asking you: "Why did you participate in an illegal meeting of dwarfs?" This was the ethos of Poland's Orange Alternative movement - and the origin of the dwarves that now adorn Wrocław's streets.
At almost 650 meters tall, the radio mast in Konstantynów was the tallest structure of its time. Although it toppled in 1991, it held the record until the completion of Burj Khalifa in 2008.
Famed Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban has created a novel solution to grant refugees dignity and privacy. His work has been successfully introduced in Poland during the Russian war on Ukraine.
The Port of Gdańsk, as the leading container terminal on the Baltic Sea, is slowly becoming a key transport hub in the development the 3Seas Initiative (3SI). In fact, the entire Polish coast, with its key transshipment ports. is turning into a so-called Northern Gateway.
Hide the dry-clean only outfits for the day! Śmigus-dyngus is the age-old, day-after-Easter Polish tradition where splashing cold water on friends, loved ones, or even complete strangers is common practice.
English-style beer consumption stole some ground from vodka territory when a jokingly named quasi-political movement called the Polish Beer-Lovers Party gained Members of Parliament (MPs) in the early 1990s.
Przemsza is the name of a Polish river that is nearly impossible for non-Polish speakers to pronounce. Regardless, three Emperors speaking these languages had to know its name, as their countries joined at its junction for decades. Now it's almost forgotten in the middle of modern-day Poland.
A UFO-like set of discs sits atop a mountain peak on the Czechia-Poland border. However, its inhabitants are not extraterrestrials, rather meteorologists who come from far and wide for the unique weather.
Poland is taking steps to position Central Eastern Europe in pole position ahead of the coming competition for market shares in a new sector of the economy.
Several locally famous families participate in a peculiar contest for the tallest Easter palm each year.
The digitalization of battlefields has already become a reality. To conduct effective operations, every army needs situational awareness on both strategic and tactical levels. What if we could also monitor soldiers' medical condition in the middle of battle?
In a small corner of the West Pomeranian forest in northwestern Poland, a grove of pine trees grow in unique shapes that might seem more suited to a fantasy film rather than wildlife reality. The origin of this curiosity is still up for debate.
A small pyramid in northeastern Poland holds the final resting place for several members of a wealthy family. But to some it's a places as mysterious and mystical as the pyramids of Egypt.
If you’ve ever sat wondering just how far it is from the Skellige Archipelago to Cintra, you’re not the only one! Lucky for us, a team of scientists have created the most detailed map yet of the world of The Witcher to keep us on track.
Friday night. Chic restaurant. Notable chef. You've finally picked a mouthwatering main dish, and the sommelier recommends pairing it with... a Polish wine? Seems crazy, right? Not if a new crop of Polish winemakers has anything to do with it.
Some say that the woods in Poland's Masurian Lake District harbor a secret: that an abandoned channel project from the Polish Lake District to the Baltic Sea wasn’t only for an inland trade route - it was to provide access to a secret German WW2 era submarine shipyard.
The success of Polish eCommerce delivery provider InPost has rewritten the map for deliveries in Poland and beyond, with Automated Parcel Machines becoming the go-to choice for people who want to be able to receive packages at all times and without having to pay a fortune.
In 2024, a two-year construction project for a Polish wind farm in the Baltic Sea will begin, comprising 70 turbines, which will generate over 1 GW of power. Located 22 km offshore, these new turbines will generate more power than a recently-commissioned Danish farm with 72 turbines.
Moving to a new country can be a daunting but enlightening experience. We've asked expats from around the Three Seas countries the same five questions to give us a bit of insight into the good, bad and unexpected aspects of their new homes.