in 1947 became the center of the re-established National Park. Nowadays it is one of the least populated areas in Poland, while at the same time it is one of the most important tourist attractions in the eastern part of the country with almost 100,000 visitors every year. The Reserve was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992 and internationally recognized as a Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Program in 1993. British historian Simon Schama devotes several chapters of his 1995 book Landscape and Memory to a consideration of the historical vicissitudes of the forests around Białowieża in an effort to explore the ways in which cultural imagination shapes humans' vision of the land. Population Today, the majority of the population of Białowieża is Eastern Orthodox, with a small part identifying as members of the Belarusian ethnic minority. The local native dialect is described by linguists as being of Ruthenian origin, predominantly a mixture of Belarusian, Ukrainian with significant elements of Polish and a certain influence of the Russian language. Sites of interest Białowieża National Park Palace park (Park Pałacowy) - covering the area of , built in 1890. It is a park in English style with a large view to Białowieża National Park. Upon the ponds there is an obelisk for the memory of hunting in 1752 when king Augustus III hunted in Białowieża forests. There are also several tsarist red brick buildings from the 19th century, and a gate which is the only remnant of the wooden manor. Ecological Museum (Muzeum Przyrodniczo-Leśne im. prof. Jana Miklaszewskiego) - museum of natural history St. Nicholas the Miraculous' Orthodox Church - with a unique iconostasis from Chinese porcelain. Open-air folk museum (Skansen) - with original huts, windmills and wells PTTK Tourist Service Nature expert guides (birdwatching, bison and other wildlife observations) you can find at the Białowieża Forest website Graveyard Chapel of St. Cyril (Kaplica św. Cyryla) - from 1873 with an 18th-century icon. Notable people Gavriil Ilizarov, Soviet orthopedic surgeon, known for inventing the Ilizarov apparatus for lengthening limb bones and for his eponymous surgery. Igor Newerly, Polish novelist and educator, member of the Polish resistance during the Nazi German occupation of Poland. Aleksander Waszkiewicz, Soviet military officer Albert Ordway (born Albert Asoŭski), Belarusian politician and military commander, member of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic Hieorhi Vałkavycki, Belarusian poet and writer See also Białowieża