Narodowy atlas Polski

Summary

This article aims to elaborate on the conceptual framework and historical development of the "National Atlas of Poland." The author begins by defining a national atlas: it covers a single country within its present boundaries, providing a multifaceted and objective characterization of the country and its current socio-economic relations through scientific cartographic methods, with particular emphasis on the most important and typical problems of that country. Given its status as a representative publication, a national atlas is typically distinguished by its careful external appearance. The article reviews Polish achievements in this field before World War II, citing significant publications such as the "Statistical Atlas of the Polish Kingdom" (1907), considered a prototype, and the "Geographical-Statistical Atlas of Poland" (1916), regarded as a national atlas in the full sense of the term. Post-war efforts are also discussed, including the "Little Atlas of Poland," the "Study of the National Plan" (1947-1948), and the incomplete "Atlas of Poland," of which only four issues were published. The core of the article traces the detailed history of the work on the Atlas of Poland from 1945, covering institutional changes, editorial committee reorganizations, and successive project revisions, as well as the work initiated at the Geographical Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1956. Finally, the author presents the comprehensive concept for the new edition: the atlas will consist of three parts, containing approximately 120 plates with about 450 maps. It will use Albers' projection within the boundaries of present-day Poland, with a basic scale of 1:2,000,000. The content will cover the natural environment, population and settlements, and the national economy, aiming to reflect the level of geographical and cartographical sciences, serve as an instrument for regional planning, and act as a reliable source of information about Poland. Various cartographic methods will be employed, but the atlas will exclude old maps, topographical maps, and geodetic data. To illustrate changes over time, four periods have been selected: pre-World War I, the inter-war period, immediately after World War II, and the present day.