Przemysl County

Przemyśl County (Pol. powiat przemyski) is one of 21 land counties in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland. The county covers an area of 1213.7 km², its total population is 71,000 people, the population density is 58.7 p/km². Its administrative centre is Przemyśl. Przemyśl County was formed on January 1, 1999 as a result of an administrative reform.

Przemyśl County is one of the richest in historical and cultural sights in Subcarpathian Voivodeship. A significant contribution to the formation of the historic environment of Przemyśl County was made by Ukrainian ethnos. Ukrainians had inhabited the territory of the county till 1944–1947, when the criminal Operation Vistula took place and when repatriation of USSR happened. Vast majority of the Ukrainian population of Przemyśl and Nadsiannia was compulsorily expatriated from their native lands. In 1946 last pre-war Przemyśl UGCC bishop Józafat Kocyłowski (1876–1947) was arrested, who was martyred in the Polish prison. Only in 1989 the Greek Catholic (Byzantine Ukrainian) Polish community got its bishop. Then Ivan Martynyak was appointed assistant to Primate of Poland, and in 1991 Pope John Paul II constituted him bishop of Przemyśl of UGCC. Despite unfortunate moments of history, the Ukrainian cultural community left its trace in Przemyśl and harmoniously joined the Polish sociocultural space.

Przemyśl County is rich in monuments of sacred architecture. In addition to a large number of ancient temples in Przemyśl, there are sacred buildings in Krasiczyn, which have been well-preserved (the Catholic church of St. Martin, XVIIth century), Kruhel Wielki (wooden Greek Catholic church of the Ascension of the Lord, 1630) and other villages of the county. Also there are numerous defensive buildings of different ages in Przemyśl County. Przemyśl fortress is considered to be a unique monument of military defensive architecture. At the turn of the XIXth — early XXth centuries it was one of the largest and most modern in Europe and played a major role as a defence system of the Austrian Empire from the east side. The chief post of the fortress was located in Przemyśl, it was protected by two outer rings of fortifications. It was impossible to destroy the fortification by artillery of that time, therefore the fortress was regarded to be impregnable. Nowadays in order to facilitate visiting of the Przemyśl fortress, picturesque cycling and walking routes have been created. Almost every fort may be reached by car.

Those who enjoy skiing and sledging can use the ski lifts in Przemyśl and in Korzenica, Gmina Laszki.