Friday, December 4, 2009

Zamość?

On an after-work research spree, I came across a beautiful aerial view of Zamość and was excited to find a dense, miniature city plan. I never knew much about this small town in Poland, but this picture along with images of the market colorful Armenian merchant houses that line the market square, inspired to me to find out more.



According to UNESCO, Zamość is a "perfect example of a late-16th-century Renaissance town", not only in terms of Poland but for the entire of world! It's supposedly one of the only untouched Renaissance cities on the planet. It has an interesting story too: Jan Zamoyski, an extremely wealthy Polish magnate, had tremendous sums of money to burn so he hired a reknown architect to create what they considered to be an "ideal city" and a capital to bypass paying certain trade tariffs. Clever. When all was said and done: the outcome was vivid, unique and awe-inspiring.


Zamość... it might even be more adorable than Cieszyn. Hopefully on my next trip, I'll have the opportunity to explore Zamość.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely! The aerial view looks like a shield.

This makes a good case for painted masonry; Stan and I have ongoing arguments about painting brick (me: pro).

How does one say "Zamosc"?
-Daphne

Brendan Ciecko said...

Yes, they have some nifty city walls.

For Zamość, you're looking at more stucci exterior and cast work than regular brick but overall, I'm a fan of nicely painted masonry.

For instance, what would Newton Street be if not for it's vivid palette?

I believe it's pronounced zam-oh-sch, if that make since.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info. I wonder if the ornate stuff is all cast? I guess it might be. I wonder only because I saw a few Pakistani men carving ornate decorations into half-set cement facades in Brooklyn--on a brownstone row--I can't even imagine the skill level involved there, and I was amazed to see it up close.

Newton St is wacky. I think it either needs trees/greenery or to be a walking street only, or both. Or maybe just an awesome playground across the street.

-Daphne

Ja said...

hi, I hope you'll enjoy Zamość!:)