غابة بياوڤيجا

Białowieża Forest
Puszcza Białowieska (پولندية) Белавежская пушча (بلاروسية) Biełaviežskaja Pušča Беловежская пуща (روسية) Belovezhskaya pushcha
Fallen tree in the Białowieża Forest
الموقع	Grodno and Brest regions, Belarus Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland
أقرب مدينة	Hajnówka, Poland
الإحداثيات	52°45′N 23°50′E
المساحة	3,085.8 km2 (1,191.4 sq mi)
تأسست	11 August 1932
الهيئة الحاكمة	Ministries of the Environment of Belarus and Poland
موقع تراث عالمي لليونسكو
السمات	Natural: ix, x
مراجع	33
التدوين	1979 (3rd Session)
الامتدادات	1992, 2014

Białowieża Forest is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to 800 European bison, Europe's heaviest land animal. UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme designated the Polish Biosphere Reserve Białowieża in 1976 and the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve Belovezhskaya Puschcha in 1993.

In 2015, the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve occupied the area of 216,200 ha (2,162 km²; 835 sq mi), subdivided into transition, buffer and core zones. The forest has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an EU Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation. The World Heritage Committee by its decision of June 2014 approved the extension of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland", which became "Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland". It straddles the border between Poland (Podlaskie Voivodeship) and Belarus (Brest and Grodno voblasts), and is 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Brest, Belarus and 62 kilometres (39 miles) southeast of Białystok, Poland. The Białowieża Forest World Heritage site covers a total area of 141,885 ha (1,418.85 km²; 547.82 sq mi). Since the border between the two countries runs through the forest, there is a border crossing available for hikers and cyclists.

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 Name

The Białowieża Forest takes its name from the Polish village of Białowieża, which is located in the middle of the forest and was probably one of the first human settlements in the area. Białowieża means "White Tower" in Polish. The name stems from the white wooden hunting-manor established in the village by Władysław II Jagiełło, the King of Poland who ruled the country from 1386 until his death in 1434 and who enjoyed going on hunting trips in the forest. The modern Belarusian name for the forest is Biełaviežskaja pušča (Белавежская пушча), although both the Belarusian authorities and UNESCO use the official Russian name Belovezhskaya pushcha (Беловежская пуща) from before the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union.

 Nature protection

Approximate range of the Białowieża Primeval Forest in Poland and Belarus.

 Białowieża National Park, Poland

المقالة الرئيسية: Białowieża National Park

Białowieża National Park Visitor Centre

 Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park, Belarus

المقالة الرئيسية: Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park

In 2009, the Ecological Education Centre was built in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park.

 History

Belovezhskaya Pushcha coat of arms on Pre-Stamped Envelope of the Belarus, 2009: 600th Anniversary of Belovezhskaya Pushcha reserve status

 20th-century wartime damage and restoration

Bison in Białowieża Forest

Royal Oaks Trail, Białowieża Forest

Stephanopachys linearis specimen collected in Białowieża Forest in 2015.

After the war, part of the forest was divided between Poland and the Belarusian SSR of the Soviet Union. The Soviet part was put under public administration while Poland reopened the Białowieża National Park in 1947.

Belovezhskaya Pushcha was protected under Decision No. 657 of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union, 9 October 1944; Order No. 2252-P of the USSR Council of Ministers, 9 August 1957; and Decree No. 352 of the Byelorussian SSR Council of Ministers, 16 September 1991.

In December 1991, the Belavezha Accords, the decision to dissolve the Soviet Union, were signed at a meeting in the Belarusian part of the reserve by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

 Named oaks

The King of Nieznanowo oak

Emperor of the South oak

Patriarch Oak, one of the oldest oaks in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park

 See also

• Tourism in Poland
• List of national parks of Belarus
• List of national parks of Poland
• List of old-growth forests
• Perućica, a primeval forest in Europe (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Virgin Komi Forests, the largest forest in Europe
• Western Caucasus, the largest bison (wisent) habitat

 Notes

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 External links

• The UNESCO official site
• Białowieża National Park
• Oaks from Bialowieza (in إنگليزية)
• Trees of Białowieża National Park
• BBC radio documentary about the forest (2002)