The territorial division constitutes one of the basic elements of the State organization; it is an indicator of its administrative efficiency and an instrument serving for efficient realization of public tasks. That is why acceptance of a specific concept for such a division has been one of the most important tasks for the Polish legislator.
It was an intrinsic element of the territorial reform to indicate cities that were to become seats of new provinces, in other words the provincial capitals. Selection of a provincial city has an essential meaning not only from the viewpoint of administration efficiency, but it also decides on development abilities of the concerned municipal centres.
In this paper, the Author indicates historic conditions for shaping of the State’s territorial
division, including the present Podkarpackie Province, and presents circumstances connected with selection of Rzeszów as the capital of this province.
