Zamosc
Zamosc is one of the best-preserved Renaissance towns in Europe. It was one of the first to be planned and built from scratch according to Italian concepts of the ideal town. The moving force behind this project Detail from building, Zamosc was Jan Zamoyski (1541-1605), chancellor and commander-inchief of the Crown, one of the most powerful and enlightened magnates of Poland's Golden Age, and the owner of Zamosc. Bernardo Mornando was the architect and work began in 1581, continuing for more than ten years. A programme of restoration was carried out in the 1970s, and in 1992 UNESCO declared the town a World Heritage Site. Today, theatrical performances and many other cultural events take place in the Main Square.
Town Hall
With its fine ornamental tower and imposing fan staircase, the Town Hall is the focal point of Zamosc.
Arsenal
The Arsenal, closely connected with the town's formidable fortifications, is today the Polish Army Museum.
Franciscan Church
In the 19th century, this large church was turned into a barracks and its Baroque gables pulled down.
VISITORS' CHECKLIST
Road map G5. * 68,000. £ H H Rynek Wielki 13 (084 639 22 92). Regional Museum ul.
Ormianska 30. Tel 084 638 64 9 # 9am-4pm Tue-Sun. & Q _ Jazz on the Borderlands (May); International Meeting of Jazz Vocalists (Oct). www.zamosc.pl
Bastion Fortifications
The fortifications around Zamosc allowed the town to resist a Cossack siege as well as the Swedish Deluge of the 1650s.
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CRACOW
Cracow is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Over the centuries, many important artists and architects came to work here, among them Veit Stoss from Germany, Bartolomeo Berrecci and Giovanni Maria Padovano from Italy, and Tylman van Gameren from Holland. Cracow has been spared major destruction, so it preserves the largest assemblage of historic buildings and monuments in Poland.
The earliest mention of Cracow in the historical records dates from the middle of the 10 th century; it had certainly been incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland before 992. In 1000 it became a see, and around 1038 it assumed the importance of a capital. Wawel Hill became the seat of government, and from 1257, when Boleslaw the Chaste gave the city a new municipal charter, it began to spread and flourish at the foot of the hill. In 1364 the Cracow Academy was founded, increasing the city's importance on the European stage. During the 14th and 15th centuries, large sums of money were spent on the development of the city, as can be seen from the numerous Gothic churches and secular buildings that survive to this day.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Cracow came under the influence of the
Renaissance. The Wawel Royal Castle, the Cloth Hall in the Main Market Square, and many private houses and mansions in the city were rebuilt in the Renaissance style. Cracow gradually lost its significance, and in 1596 the capital was moved to Warsaw, but it was in Wawel Cathedral that successive kings of Poland were crowned and entombed, and the city continued to acquire many magnificent buildings. Under the Partition of Poland (see pp46-9), Cracow came under Austrian rule, which nevertheless permitted a relatively large degree of local autonomy. Hence it began to assume the role of the spiritual capital of all Poles, both in their native country and abroad. Cracow escaped significant damage during the two World Wars, and in 1978 UNESCO declared it a World Heritage site.
- Memorial to Adam Mickiewicz, Poland's national poet, outside the Cloth Hall in the Main Market Square
<] Wawel Cathedral's Zygmunt Chapel, "the Pearl of the Renaissance north of the Alps„
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