Kielce

Kielce is a city in south-central Poland with 192,468 inhabitants recorded in 2021, first mentioned in documents from 1212 and granted city status under German law by 1295. Its growth accelerated after the capital of the Krakow province was moved there in 1818 following the establishment of the Free City of Krakow, and further after a railway connection arrived in 1885; the city's population peaked at over 215,000 in the early 1990s before declining in recent decades, and it now serves as capital of the Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship.