Białowieża National Park is the Polish national park that protects part of the Białowieża Forest and its European bison.
The park lies in Poland’s Podlaskie Voivodeship along the border with Belarus. It preserves one of Europe’s finest remnants of temperate primeval forest, with ancient trees, fallen timber, wetlands, and species including wild boar, moose, wolves, and lynx. The European bison is its signature animal and Europe’s heaviest land mammal.
The park was formally established on August 11, 1932, reopened after World War II in 1947, and expanded in later stages. The forest continues across the international border into Belarus, where the adjoining protected area is called Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park. The park’s name refers to the protected Polish section; “Białowieża Forest” is the larger transboundary ecosystem.