President  Bronisław Komorowski has arrived in the mountain resort of Wisła for a week-long New Year’s holiday. 

He is spending the time with the First Lady in a château which was the local residents’ gift to President Ignacy Mościcki in the early 1930s.  It was built at the site where the Habsburgs had their hunting cottage at the start of the 20th century.

The château in Wisła was given a new lease of life as a presidential retreat by President Aleksander Kwaśniewski who celebrated his 50th birthday there in 2003. 

In 2005, the residence served as the venue for a visit by the Belgian royal couple and a meeting of the presidents of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

The late President, Lech Kaczynski,  hosted his counterparts in Estonia and Ukraine in Wisła, as well as Poland’s Olympic medalists.

It is the first time Bronislaw Komorowski has come to Wisła, which is, incidentally, a town where he received almost 85 percent of the vote in the second round of the presidential election last July, one of the best results in the whole of Poland. 

The Presidential couple is to have a meeting with local residents later today. Mr Komorowski’s New Year’s address, to be broadcast on  New Year’s Eve, will be recorded in Wisła.   (mk)