Elbing

Elbląg

Old Town in Elbląg

Flag

Coat of arms

Elbląg

Coordinates: 54°10′0″N 19°24′0″E / 54.16667°N 19.40000°E

Country

Poland

Voivodeship

Warmian-Masurian

County

City county

Established

1237

City rights

1246

Government

• Mayor

Witold Wróblewski

Area

• Total

79,82 km² (3,082 sq mi)

Population (December 31, 2011)

• Total

124 257

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

Postal code

82-300 to 82-315

+48 55

Website

Elbląg [ˈɛlblɔŋk] (German: Elbing) is a city in northern Poland on the eastern edge of the Żuławy region with 124,257 inhabitants (December 31, 2011). It is the capital of Elbląg County and has been assigned (since 1999) to the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Previously it was the capital of Elbląg Voivodeship (1975–1998) and a county seat within Gdańsk Voivodeship (1945–1975).

Elbląg is located about 55 kilometres (34 miles) south-east of Gdańsk and 90 km (56 mi) south-west of Kaliningrad, Russia. The city is a port on the river Elbląg, which flows into the Vistula Lagoon about 10 km (6 mi) to the north, thus giving the city access to the Baltic Sea via the Russian-controlled Strait of Baltiysk. The Old Town (Polish: Stare Miasto) is located on the river Elbląg connecting Lake Drużno to the Vistula Lagoon, about 10 km (6 mi) from the lagoon and 60 km (37 mi) from Gdańsk.

The German Elbing was almost totally destroyed at the end of World War II. The city became the Polish Elbląg after the war, when the area was ceded to Poland under border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference. Parts of the inner city were gradually rebuilt, and around 2000 rebuilding was begun in a style emulating the previous architecture, in many cases over the same foundations and utilizing old bricks and portions of the same walls. The western bank part of the old city is now completely gone.

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Wikipedia