zamosc

Zamość is a town in southeastern Poland with 66,633 inhabitants (2004), situated in the Lublin Voivodship (since 1999), previously capital of Zamość Voivodship (1975–1998). About 20 kilometres from the town is the Roztocze National Park. The city is located on the broad gauge railway line linking former Soviet Union with Upper Silesian coal and sulphur mines as well as less than 60 kilometres from the border crossings to Ukraine. On December 14, 1992, the historical city centre was inscribed onto UNESCO World Heritage List.

History

Zamość was founded in 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, Zamość remains a perfect example of a Renaissance town of the late 16th century which retains its original layout and fortifications and a large number of buildings blending Italian and central European architectural traditions. The Old City quarter of Zamość has been placed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. In 1943, Zamość County, due to its fertile black soil, was chosen for further German colonisation in General Government as part of Generalplan Ost. Polish farmers were expropriated and forcibly removed from the farms, Polish population expelled amid great brutality, farms were handed over to German settlers, but few Germans were settled in the area before 1944. Children were taken separately and after racial scrutiny send over to Germany to be raised in German families. After the World War II Zamość started a period of development. In the 1970's and 1980's 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 routs linking Germany with Ukraine and the ports on the Black Sea.