Old Poland Voivodeship (Polish: ''Wojewodztwo staropolskie'') was a proposed

Voivodeship A voivodeship is the area administered by a voivode (Governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval ...

of Poland, which, however, has not been created. It was to cover the area of northern part of the historical province of

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...

, with such cities as Częstochowa, Kielce and

Sandomierz Sandomierz (pronounced: ; la, Sandomiria) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (as of 2017), situated on the Vistula River in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy Cross Prov ...

(first draft also included

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been the seat of a separate Radom Voivodeship (1975� ...

First talks

First talks about creation of the new voivodeship took place on February 13, 1998 in the village of ''Zloty Potok''. Participants were local politicians from three voivodeships - Radomskie, Kieleckie and Czestochowskie. All knew that according to the ''1998 Local Government Reorganization Act'', territorial organization of Poland would significantly change, with the removal of most of the voivodeships, and therefore they decided to act. A week later, on February 20, 1998, another meeting took place. This time, there were no representatives from Radom, they were replaced by politicians from western part of the Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship, together with the city of Sandomierz (but without the cities of

Tarnobrzeg Tarnobrzeg is a city in south-eastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland), on the east bank of the river Vistula, with 49,419 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (Polish: ''Województwo podkarpackie'') sinc ...

and

Stalowa Wola Stalowa Wola () is the largest city and capital of Stalowa Wola County with a population of 58,545 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2021. It is located in southeastern Poland in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. The city lies in historic Lesser Polan ...

), who expressed their desire to join the proposed province.

Włoszczowa Agreement

On July 4, 1998 in Włoszczowa, politicians from Kielce, Częstochowa and Sandomierz signed the so-called Włoszczowa Agreement. It included a joint statement, which backed creation of the Old Poland Voivodeship, with the seat of a

Voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the ...

located in Częstochowa and seat of the local parliament in Kielce. The text of the agreement was handed to the central authorities of Poland on July 8. However, the initiative failed, as the Local Government Reorganization Act created the Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship, which did not include the area of Częstochowa, as it became part of the

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian V ...

Size and population

According to the Włoszczowa Agreement, the proposed Voivodeship would cover the area of 17 006 km². Its population (as for 2006) would be 1 995 000, with 48.8% living in urban areas. It would be made out of two urban

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

(cities of Częstochowa and Kielce), and eighteen land counties. These were: * Busko-Zdrój County, * Częstochowa County, * Jędrzejów County, *

Kazimierza Wielka Kazimierza Wielka () is a town in Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, about northeast of Kraków. It is the administrative seat of Kazimierza County (''powiat kazimierski''). With a population of 5,848 (2005), it is the smallest county seat ...

County, * Kielce County, * Kłobuck County, * Końskie County, * Myszków County, * Opaczow County, * Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski County, * Pajęczno County, *

Pińczów Pińczów is a town in southern Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, about 40 km south of Kielce. It is the capital of Pińczów County. Population is 12,304 (2005). Pińczów belongs to the historic Polish province of Lesser Poland, a ...

County, *

Radomsko Radomsko is a city in southern Poland with 44,700 inhabitants (2021). It is situated on the Radomka river in the Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been in Piotrków Voivodeship, Piotrków Trybunalski Voivodeship (1975–1998). ...

County, *

County, * Skarżysko-Kamienna County, * Starachowice County, * Staszów County, * Włoszczowa County.

First talks

Włoszczowa Agreement

Size and population

See also