The pride on the architectural opinion
Zamosc is a town in southeastern Poland. Zamosc was founded in the year 1580 by the Chancellor and Hetman (head of the army of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) Jan Zamoyski on the trade route linking western and northern Europe with the Black Sea. Modelled on the Italian trading cities and built during the Baroque period by the architect Bernardo Morando, a native of Padua, Zamosc. Renaissance town built from scratch by Hetman Jan Zamoyski in in the mid-16th century. The Baroque town hall dominates the Great Market, which is surrounded by arcade houses of the period. Zamosc is a top class monument of significant historical and artistic value, therefore it was included on the list of the World’s Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 1992.
The most spectacular is the great market square with old arcade burghers’ houses. It is dominated by a lofty town hall with its sky-high tower and monumental staircase. On both sides stand beautiful houses, which were owned by rich merchants in the past. South-west of the market square is the cathedral with its splendid Renaissance interior decorations, including a lot of good stone and stucco work, paintings, portraits of the Zamoyskis, and the family crypt. Zamosc was built from the very start, within a short period of time and in one architectural style, which gives the town a unique place in Polish and European history. It is an embodiment of the most outstanding Renaissance architects dreams about the ideal town. Bernardo Morando, the Italian architect- designer of Zamosc town and fortress and Jan Zamoyski, the politician, great crown chancellor and outstanding sixteenth century statesman decided to build the ideal Town.
Zamosc is a major cultural center and the pride of the architectural thought of various nations. It is called an ideal city, a pearl of the Renaissance, an epitome of a fortress city erected on so called “raw root” as a residence of the respectable and affluent Zamoyski family. Today, the traditions of the cultural and scholar center – the Zamoyska Academy – are still alive. The Old Town, surrounded by earthwork, is still “defended” by a system of gates and is recognized as the masterpiece of military art. Also, Rynek Wielki (the Grand Market) and adjacent streets filling out the regular, checked-like layout with numerous arcade tenements, the city hall and the cathedral dominating the city are charming and worthy of note.
Cultural life in Zamosc is rich: “Zamosc Theatre Summer”, “International Meetings of Jazz Singers”, “Jazz on Eastern Borderlands”, ” Zamosc Music Days” organised by famous Karol Namysowski’s Polish Woscianska Orchestra, and many others. Of particular interest are the fragments of the former fortifications, including the gates, bastions, earthworks, defensive walls, and gun emplacements. These elements, together with the beautiful Renaissance buildings, make Zamosc a specially charming and unusual place to visit.
