Believe it or not, but in the middle of the fields of the eastern part of today’s Poland in the 16th century grew a Renaissance ideal city. It is not Italian Padua, although it is sometimes called “Padua of the north.”
The creation of Zamość is an individual decision of the commander (hetman) of the Polish army, Jan Zamoyski – one of the most powerful men of the time. Zamość was intended to be the private city of this magnate. Designed by the eminent Italian architect Bernardo Morando, the fortress city, as an architectural and urban complex in 1992, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
From a bird’s eye view, Zamość is an irregular heptagon of spectacular fortifications with a hexagonal city tucked away in the center. Its central place is a magnificent, built on a rectangular plan, renaissance square, with beautiful townhouses and the town hall, crowned by a 52-meter clock tower, which is decorated with a patulous classical staircase.
The plots designated by the architects were occupied not only by the Polish population, but also by Armenians, Jews and Greeks, thus Renaissance Zamość acquired a multicultural character. Not everyone knows that Róża Luxemburg, for example, came from here!
While there, it is worth strolling through the arcades of the townhouses at the market square, looking at the magnificent Baroque church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary or the Zamość synagogue. Perhaps most impressive, however, are the colorful Armenian Tenements with their bas-reliefs, ornaments and attics. Finally, visit the modern Arsenal Museum of Fortifications and Weaponry in Bastion VII with an exhibition of period militaria.
Zamość- so perfect that one can forgive its builders who, motivated by vanity, prepared the ground for a horde of future photographers, someone once wrote on the Cosmopolitan Review blog. Full consent!
EXPLORE THE REGION – LUBLIN REGION
