Solska Forest ( pl, Puszcza Solska) is a large forest complex in southern part of the

Lublin Voivodeship The Lublin Voivodeship, also known as the Lublin Province (Polish: ''województwo lubelskie'' ), is a voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in southeastern part of the country. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin, Che� ...

, about 100 km south of

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. It occupies an area north of the San and south of the

Roztocze Roztocze ( uk, Розточчя, ''Roztochia'') is a range of hills in east-central Poland and western Ukraine which rises from the Lublin Upland and extends southeastward through Solska Forest and across the border into Ukrainian Podolia. Low and ...

Upland. The forest is mostly made of coniferous trees, part of them having been artificially planted. Its total area is 1240 km², which makes it the second largest forest of Poland (the

Lower Silesian Forest Lower Silesian Forest ( pl, Bory Dolnośląskie, german: Niederschlesische Heide) is the largest continuous forest of Poland, with total area of 1650 square kilometers. It is located in southwestern Poland, in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship and th ...

ranks first). Until the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, the Solska Forest was connected with another huge complex, the

Sandomierz Forest Sandomierz Forest ( pl, Puszcza Sandomierska) is one of the biggest forests in southern Poland; covering large parts of the Sandomierz Basin. Its name comes from the historical city of Sandomierz, and in the Middle Ages its eastern edge created a n ...

, but deforestation separated these two complexes from each other. Solska Forest is rich in landscape parks (such as the

Puszcza Solska Landscape Park Puszcza Solska Landscape Park, also known as Solska Forest Landscape Park (''Park Krajobrazowy Puszczy Solskiej''), is a Polish Landscape Park protected area in southeastern Poland. The nature park protects an area of . It was established in 19 ...

), nature reserves and peat bogs. Main rivers that cross the area are the

Tanew Tanew is a river in south-east Poland, a tributary of San. It starts in Roztocze hills. Tanew has a length of about 113 km and its catchment area is 2339 km². Its tributaries are: Potok Łosiniecki (R), Jeleń (R), Sopot (R), Szum ...

, and the Łada and main cities are

Biłgoraj Biłgoraj ( yi, בילגאריי, ''Bilgoray'', ua, Білґорай) is a town in south-eastern Poland with 25,838 inhabitants as of December 2021. Since 1999 it has been situated in Lublin Voivodeship; it was previously located in Zamość Vo ...

Tomaszów Lubelski Tomaszów Lubelski is a town in south-eastern Poland with 19,365 inhabitants (2017). Situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, near Roztocze National Park, it is the capital of Tomaszów Lubelski County. History The town was founded at the end of the ...

and Józefow. The forest is crossed by several routes, including the main national road number 17, which goes from

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, via Lublin, to

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

. Also, a

Zwierzyniec Zwierzyniec (; uk, Звежинець, Zvezhynetsʹ) is a town on the Wieprz river in the Zamość County, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. It has 3,324 inhabitants (2004). Zwierzyniec is the northernmost town of the Roztocze National Park. The par ...

–

Bełżec Belzec (English: or , Polish: ) was a Nazi German extermination camp built by the SS for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to murder all History of Jews in Poland, Polish Jews, a major part of the "Fina ...

rail line goes through it.

Sources

nature.poland.pl

roztocze.net.pl
{{Authority control Forests of Poland Geography of Lublin Voivodeship