The location of the geographical centre of Europe depends on the definition of the borders of Europe, mainly whether remote islands are included to define the extreme points of Europe, and on the method of calculating the final result. Thus, several places claim to host this hypothetical centre.
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Locations currently vying for the distinction of being the centre of Europe include:
As noted below, Guinness World Records recognises Bernotai, 26 km. north of Vilnius, Lithuania, as the "official" geographical midpoint of Europe. But that does not preclude other centres, depending on the methodology used in making the determination.
German Empire geographers did their own geographic analysis at the beginning of the 1900s and concluded that the Austrian measurements were incorrect. The German scientists stated that the true geographic centre of Europe was in the Saxon capital city of Dresden, near the Frauenkirche.
Measurements done after World War II by Soviet scientists again proclaimed Rakhiv and Dilove (in Russian: Rakhov and Dyelovoye) to be the geographical centre of Europe. The old marker in the small town was renewed, and a major campaign to convince everyone of its validity was undertaken.
Another possible centre of Europe is the Central Slovak town of Krahule, near the mining town of Kremnica, now a famous centre for winter sports. There is now a stone commemorating the point at as well as a hotel and a recreation centre called "Centre of Europe".
After a re-estimation of the boundaries of the continent of Europe in 1989, Jean-George Affholder, a scientist at the Institut Géographique National (French National Geographic Institute) determined that the Geographic Centre of Europe is located at .[1] The method used for calculating this point was that of the centre of gravity of the geometrical figure of Europe. This point is located in Lithuania, specifically 26 kilometres (16 mi) north of its capital city, Vilnius, near the village of Purnuškės. A monument, composed by the sculptor Gediminas Jokūbonis and consisting of a column of white granite surmounted by a crown of stars, was erected at the location in 2004. An area of woods and fields surrounding the geographic centre point and including Lake Girija, Bernotai Hill, and an old burial ground, was set aside as a reserve in 1992. The State Tourism Department at the Ministry of Economy of Lithuania has classified the Geographic Centre monument and its reserve as a tourist attraction. This location is the only one listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the geographical centre of Europe. 17 km away lies Europos Parkas, Open Air Museum of the Centre of Europe, a sculpture park containing the world's largest sculpture made of TV sets.[2]
It is claimed that a 1992 survey found that the geometric centre of Europe is in the village of Tállya, Hungary.[3][4] In 2000, a sculpture was erected in the village, with a table on it declaring the place the "Geometric Centre of Europe".[5]
If all the islands of Europe, from Azores to the Franz Joseph Land and from Crete to Iceland, are taken into consideration, it is claimed that the centre of Europe lies on the island of Saaremaa in western Estonia, in Mõnnuste village, at . Again, no author and no method of calculation was disclosed. The local Kärla Parish is looking to verify the location and turn it into a tourist location.[6]
Recently a new claim has been made that Vitebsk in northeastern Belarus, or alternatively Babruysk in the western part of the province of Mahilyow of the eastern Belarus, is the centre of Europe.
In 2000 Belarusian scientists Alexey Solomonov and Valery Anoshko published a report that stated the geographic centre of Europe was located near Lake Sho (; Belarusian: Шо) in Vitsebsk Voblast.[7]
Scientists from Russian Central Research Institute of Geodesy, Aerial Survey and Cartography (Russian: ЦНИИГАиК) confirmed calculations of Belarusian geodesists that the geographical centre of Europe is located in Polotsk . A small monument to the Geographical Centre of Europe was set up in Polotsk on May 31, 2008.[8]
Certain people mistakenly take two notions: "geographical centre of Europe" and "geographical centre of a country lying (approximately) in the centre of Europe" to be synonymous. Such seems the genesis of the claims that the centre of Europe lies in the following places.
Based on distance calculations to the extreme points of Europe (Franz Josef Land in the Northeast, the border between the Russian Federation and the states of Georgia and Azerbaijan at the Caspian Sea in the Southeast, Crete in the South and the Azores in the Southwest) the centre of Europe will surprisingly be found in Southern Norway near in the Telemark region.
If only continental Europe is of interest and outlying islands like Iceland, Franz Josef Land and the Azores are being disregarded, thus having the extreme points in Northern Norway, Gibraltar and again in Crete and the Caucasus region, and again based on distances, the centre of Europe would actually be in Poland, somewhere near somewhat North of the city of Poznań.
(Note: Though further east by longitude than the Caucasus region, the Ural Mountains can be disregarded as an extreme point because they are actually closer to the centre of Europe.)
Other locations have claimed the title of geographic centre of Europe on the basis of calculations taking into account only the territory of those states which are members of the European Union (or formerly - European Community).
As the European Union has been growing the last 50 years, the geographical centre shifted with each expansion.
The calculations of a geographical centre were made by the French Institut Géographique National (IGN) since at least 1987.
The geographical point of the European Union is not free from disputes, either. If some different extreme points of the European Union, like some Atlantic Ocean islands, are taken into consideration this point is calculated in different locations. Most of them are located now in Germany.
The centre of the Eurozone is located in France near the village of Liernais.
A 2004 Polish-German documentary, Środek Europy (Die Mitte, "The Center"), written and directed by Stanisław Mucha, shows over a dozen different locations.[12]
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Geographical_midpoint_of_Europe Geographical midpoint of Europe] at Wikimedia Commons
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