Zamość is a town in southeastern
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
with 66,633 inhabitants (2004), situated in the
Lublin VoivodeshipLublin Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in eastern Poland. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin, Chełm, Zamość, Biała Podlaska and Tarnobrzeg and Siedlce Voivodeships, pursuant to Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
(since 1999). About 20 kilometres from the town is the
Roztocze National ParkRoztocze National Park is a National Park located in eastern Poland, in Lublin Voivodeship. It protects the most valuable natural areas of the middle part of the Roztocze range. The Park was created in 1974 and initially covered area of 48.01 km². Its current size is , of which forests occupy...
.
The historical city centre was added to the
UNESCO World Heritage List (in 1992).
Zamość was founded in the year 1580 by the
ChancellorKanclerz was one of the highest officials in the historic Poland. His office functioned from the early Polish kingdom of the 12th century until the end of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. Chancellors powers risen together with the increasing importance of the written documents...
and
HetmanHetman was the title of the second highest military commander used in 15th to 18th century Poland, Ukraine and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, known from 1569 to 1795 as the Rzeczpospolita....
(head of the army of the
Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthThe Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed by the union of the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569. The new Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th-century Europe....
)
Jan ZamoyskiJan Zamoyski , was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman, magnate, 1st duke/ordynat of Zamość. Royal Secretary since 1566, Lesser Kanclerz ) of the Crown since 1576, Lord Grand-Chancellor of the Crown since 1578, and Grand Hetman of the Crown since 1581...
, on the trade route linking western and northern Europe with the
Black Seaur a loser!The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to...
.
Modelled on Italian trading cities, and built during the
BaroqueBaroque is an artistic style prevalent from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent that the arts should communicate religious themes in...
period by the architect
Bernardo MorandoBernardo Morando, also known as Bernardino or Morandi was a Polish-Italian architect. He is notable as the author of a new town of Zamość, modelled on Renaissance theories of the 'ideal city'....
, a native of
PaduaPadua is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice , in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area, having a population of c...
, Zamość remains a perfect example of a
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
town of the late 16th century, which retains its original layout and fortifications (
Zamość FortressZamość Fortress is a set of fortifications constructed together with the city of Zamość . It was built between 1579 and 1618, and the construction was initiated by Chancellor and Hetman Jan Zamoyski...
), and a large number of buildings blending Italian and central European architectural traditions.
Zamość is a town in southeastern
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
with 66,633 inhabitants (2004), situated in the
Lublin VoivodeshipLublin Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in eastern Poland. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin, Chełm, Zamość, Biała Podlaska and Tarnobrzeg and Siedlce Voivodeships, pursuant to Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
(since 1999). About 20 kilometres from the town is the
Roztocze National ParkRoztocze National Park is a National Park located in eastern Poland, in Lublin Voivodeship. It protects the most valuable natural areas of the middle part of the Roztocze range. The Park was created in 1974 and initially covered area of 48.01 km². Its current size is , of which forests occupy...
.
The historical city centre was added to the
UNESCO World Heritage List (in 1992).
History
Zamość was founded in the year 1580 by the
ChancellorKanclerz was one of the highest officials in the historic Poland. His office functioned from the early Polish kingdom of the 12th century until the end of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. Chancellors powers risen together with the increasing importance of the written documents...
and
HetmanHetman was the title of the second highest military commander used in 15th to 18th century Poland, Ukraine and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, known from 1569 to 1795 as the Rzeczpospolita....
(head of the army of the
Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthThe Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed by the union of the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569. The new Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th-century Europe....
)
Jan ZamoyskiJan Zamoyski , was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman, magnate, 1st duke/ordynat of Zamość. Royal Secretary since 1566, Lesser Kanclerz ) of the Crown since 1576, Lord Grand-Chancellor of the Crown since 1578, and Grand Hetman of the Crown since 1581...
, on the trade route linking western and northern Europe with the
Black Seaur a loser!The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to...
.
Modelled on Italian trading cities, and built during the
BaroqueBaroque is an artistic style prevalent from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent that the arts should communicate religious themes in...
period by the architect
Bernardo MorandoBernardo Morando, also known as Bernardino or Morandi was a Polish-Italian architect. He is notable as the author of a new town of Zamość, modelled on Renaissance theories of the 'ideal city'....
, a native of
PaduaPadua is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice , in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area, having a population of c...
, Zamość remains a perfect example of a
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
town of the late 16th century, which retains its original layout and fortifications (
Zamość FortressZamość Fortress is a set of fortifications constructed together with the city of Zamość . It was built between 1579 and 1618, and the construction was initiated by Chancellor and Hetman Jan Zamoyski...
), and a large number of buildings blending Italian and central European architectural traditions. The Old City quarter of Zamość has been placed on the
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
list of World Heritage Sites.
In 1942, Zamość County, due to its fertile black soil, was chosen for further German colonisation in the
General GovernmentThe General Government refers to a part of the territories of Poland under German military occupation during World War II and that were a separate part of "Greater Germany"...
as part of
Generalplan OstGeneralplan Ost was a secret Nazi plan of genocide and ethnic cleansing to be realised in the territories occupied by Germany in Eastern Europe during World War II...
. The city itself was to be renamed "Himmlerstadt" (Himmler City) and the German occupiers had planned the relocation of at least 60,000 ethnic Germans in the area before the end of 1943. Before that, a "test trial"
expulsionPopulation transfer is the movement of a large group of people from one region to another by state policy or international authority, most frequently on the basis of ethnicity or religion...
was performed in November 1941, and the whole operation ended in a
pacificationPacification may refer to:Mass killing of civilians and the suppression of resistance*Pacification operations in German-occupied Poland, the use of German military force to suppress Polish resistance during World War II...
operation, combined with expulsions in June/July 1943 which was code named
Wehrwolf Action I and
II. Around 110,000 people from 297 villages were expelled. Around 30,000 victims were children who, if racially "clean" (ie. had physical characteristics deemed "Germanic") were planned for germanisation in German families in the Third Reich. Most of the people expelled were sent as slave labour in Germany or to concentration camps.
Local people resisted the action with great determination; they escaped into forests, organised self-defence, helped people who were expelled, and bribed kidnapped children out of German hands. Until the middle of 1943, the Germans managed to settle 8,000 colonists, the number increased by a couple of thousand more in 1944. This settlement was met with fierce armed resistance by Polish Underground forces (see
Zamość UprisingThe Zamość Uprising refers to the actions by Polish resistance against the forced expulsion of Poles from the Zamość region under the Nazi Generalplan Ost...
). The current President of Germany
Horst KöhlerHorst Köhler is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union, and the current President of Germany...
was born to a family of German colonists in
SkierbieszówSkierbieszów is a village in Zamość County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Skierbieszów. It lies on the river Wolica, approximately north-east of Zamość and south-east of the regional capital Lublin. The village has a population of 1,317...
.
After World War II, Zamość started a period of development. In the 1970s and 1980s the population grew rapidly (from 39,100 in 1975 to 68,800 in 2003), as the city started to gain significant profits from the old trade routes linking Germany with Ukraine and the ports on the Black Sea.
During the years 1975–1998 Zamość was the capital of
Zamość VoivodeshipZamość Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in years 1975–1998, superseded by Lublin Voivodeship.Capital city: ZamośćMajor cities and towns :* Zamość * Biłgoraj...
.
Noted conservator and artist Professor
Wiktor ZinWiktor Zin - Polish architect, graphic artist, professor, architectural preservationist, cultural activist, and promoter of Polish history and culture.-Biography:...
was responsible for the design and oversight of conservation work on the Arsenal and the
ArmenianThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
quarter in Zamość.
Education
High Schools
- I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Jana Zamoyskiego
Jan Zamoyski , was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman, magnate, 1st duke/ordynat of Zamość. Royal Secretary since 1566, Lesser Kanclerz ) of the Crown since 1576, Lord Grand-Chancellor of the Crown since 1578, and Grand Hetman of the Crown since 1581...
- II Liceum Ogólnokształcąse im. M. Konopnickiej
Maria Stanisława Konopnicka, née Wasiłowska was a Polish poet, novelist, translator and essayist. She sometimes used pen names, often "Jan Sawa."...
- III Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. K. C. Norwida
Colleges
- Wyższa Szkoła Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna im. Jana Zamoyskiego
Jan Zamoyski , was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman, magnate, 1st duke/ordynat of Zamość. Royal Secretary since 1566, Lesser Kanclerz ) of the Crown since 1576, Lord Grand-Chancellor of the Crown since 1578, and Grand Hetman of the Crown since 1581...
- Wyższa Szkoła Zarządzania i Administracji
- Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa w Zamościu
- Zespół Kolegiów Nauczycielskich w Zamościu
- University of Life Sciences in Lublin - faculty in Zamość
Economy
The city is located on the
broad gaugeBroad gauge railways use a rail gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For a list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
railway lineBroad Gauge Metallurgy Line , is the longest broad gauge railway line in Poland. Except for this one line, and a few very short stretches near border crossings, Poland uses the standard gauge for its railway tracks...
linking former
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
with
Upper SilesiaUpper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Lower Silesia is to the northwest. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, Bohemia, Poland, Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Prussia, and later of unified German Reich...
n coal and sulphur mines as well as less than 60 kilometres from the border crossings to
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
. Also, Zamość is located on a regular rail line, although it is not electrified.
Biała Podlaska/Chełm/Zamość constituency
Members of Parliament (
SejmThe Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. Each member of Sejm is called Poseł.Before the 20th century, the term "Sejm" referred to the entire three-chamber Polish parliament, comprising the lower house , the upper house and the King. It was commonly termed a three-estate parliament...
) elected from this constituency
Sławomir Zawiślak - Prawo i Sprawiedliwość
Famous people from Zamość
- Joseph Epstein
- Szymon Szymonowic
Szymon Szymonowic or Simon Simonides or arm. Շիմոն Շիմոնովիչ or Szymonowicz or Bendoński was a Polish Renaissance poet of Armenian descent. He was known as the Polish Pindar....
- Marek Grechuta
Marek Grechuta was a Polish singer, songwriter, composer, and lyricist, famous and beloved in Poland throughout his professional musical career.-Biography:...
- Bronisław Huberman
- Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Polish-Jewish-German Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary for the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, the German SPD, the Independent Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party of Germany.In 1914, after the SPD supported German...
- Isaac Leib Peretz
- Gryzelda Konstancja Zamoyska
Princess Gryzelda Konstancja Zamoyska was a Polish szlachcianka and mother of King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki....
- Jan "Sobiepan" Zamoyski
- Marta Dzwigaj
Literature
Fritz Stuber, "Notes on the Revalorization of Historic Towns in Poland", in
Ekistics (Athens), Vol. 49, No. 295, 1982, pp. 336–341, 3 ill.
Twin towns
OWHC cities as well as:
BardejovBardejov is a town in North-Eastern Slovakia. It is situated in the Šariš region and has about 33,000 inhabitants. The spa town, mentioned for the first time in 1241, exhibits numerous cultural monuments in its completely intact medieval town centre...
,
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
LoughboroughLoughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It had a population of 57,600 in 2004. It is the second largest settlement in Leicestershire after Leicester, is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council, and the home of Loughborough University.In 1841 Loughborough was...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
,
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
Schwäbisch HallSchwäbisch Hall is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg; it is the capital of the district of Schwäbisch Hall. The town is located in the valley of the river Kocher in the north-eastern part of Baden-Württemberg...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
SumySumy is a city on the Psel River in Ukraine, and the capital of the Sumy Oblast. As of 2004, the city's population is 283,700. It is served by Sumy Airport.-History:...
,
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
ZhovkvaZhovkva is a city in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, north of Lviv. It is the administrative center of the Zhovkivskyi Raion . The current estimated population is 13,500.-History:...
,
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
External links