Bydgoszcz
Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland, straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more than 470,000 inhabitants, Bydgoszcz is the eighth-largest city in Poland. It is the seat of Bydgoszcz County and the co-capital, with Toruń, of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.
Bydgoszcz | |
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Downtown with Freedom Square Old Market Square Main Post Office Opera Nova seen from Mill Island Banks of the Brda River in the Old Town | |
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Flag Coat of arms Brandmark | |
| Nickname: Little Berlin | |
Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz | |
| Coordinates: 53°7′19″N 18°00′01″E | |
| Country | Poland |
| Voivodeship | Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship |
| County | city county |
| Established | before 1238 |
| City rights | 1346 |
| Government | |
| • City mayor | Rafał Bruski (PO) |
| • City Council Chairperson | Monika Matowska (PO) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 176 km2 (68 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 60 m (200 ft) |
| Population (31 December 2022) | |
| • Total | 330,038 (8th) |
| • Density | 1,875/km2 (4,860/sq mi) |
| GDP | |
| • Bydgoszcz–Toruń metropolitan area | €10.871 billion (2020) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 85-001 to 85–915 |
| Area code | (+48) 52 |
| Car plates | CB |
| Primary airport | Bydgoszcz Ignacy Jan Paderewski Airport |
| Highways | |
| Website | www |
The city is part of the Bydgoszcz–Toruń metropolitan area, which totals over 850,000 inhabitants. Bydgoszcz is the seat of Casimir the Great University, University of Technology and Life Sciences and a conservatory, as well as the Medical College of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. It also hosts the Pomeranian Philharmonic concert hall, the Opera Nova opera house, and Bydgoszcz Airport. Situated between the Vistula and Oder (Odra in Polish) rivers, and by the Bydgoszcz Canal, the city is connected via the Noteć, Warta, Elbe and German canals with the Rhine, a river linked to the Mediterranean and Black Seas by canals and flowing into the North Sea.
Bydgoszcz is an architecturally rich city, with gothic, neo-gothic, neo-baroque, neoclassicist, modernist and Art Nouveau styles present, for which it has earned the nickname Little Berlin. The notable granaries on Mill Island and along the riverside belong to one of the most recognized timber-framed landmarks in Poland. In 2023, the city entered the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and was named UNESCO City of Music.