There are also two other town complexes on the UNESCO list, Torun and Zamość. Toruń, the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus, is famous for its over 300 buildings which have become part of the European art history. The layout of Toruń’s marketplace and the surrounding streets has not changed for 700 years. One of the special attractions is the leaning tower built at the turn of the 14th century, rather like the famous tower in Pisa.
Zamość
Twelve noon sharp. I am standing on the Grand Square in Zamość and listening to the solemn bugle call played from 50-meter-tall Town Hall Tower. The bugler, wearing an old-style robe and a red cape, blows a golden trumpet turning in three cardinal directions. He does not turn west, as this is where Krakow is situated. The ambitious rivalry between the former Polish capital city and Zamość dates 400 years back. Although it is not so emotional any more, Zamość has still a lot in common with the beauty and magic of Krakow.
‘It is the best preserved town of Renaissance layout in Europe,’ says the local guide with pride, ‘No wonder it was inscribed in the World Heritage List of UNESCO in 1992, and the names “the Pearl of Renaissance” or “Padua of the North” stimulate imagination and appeal to the pride of not only Zamość inhabitants.
It all started with a dream. In 1580, the Grand Chancellor for Crown and Italian architect Bernard Mornado came up with an idea to build an ideal town from scratch. And they made it!
In the 16th and 17th centuries, a town was built on greenfield land. It was delightful in its harmony, order, peace, as well as dynamic development of trade and fortifications that warded off the invasions of the Swedes, Tatars, and Cossacks.
It is the Renaissance symmetry, simplicity and ideal proportions that I see walking up and down the Grand Square. The Square is 100 meters long and 100 meters wide, with each frontage having 8 tenement houses and a road leading off the Square. Nowadays, cafes and shops are housed here. In the past, it was inhabited by Poles, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Russians and Italians. They left behind historical sights: a cathedral, a synagogue, and an Orthodox church. It is also worth to see the building of the Academy of Zamość (today a secondary school), the Zamoyski’s Palace (now a courthouse), the arsenal, the Franciscan Church, the Old Lvov Gate and numerous other monuments of great historical value.
However, what I admire most of all is the Town Hall, dominating over it all, with its fan-like stairs and the clock that seems to have stopped the time. In our contemporary world, with its rush and chaos, the restrained, harmonious and peaceful atmosphere of Zamość is of special value and use to everybody.
