Old Town (Stare Miasto) & Bastions
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
Listen
Transcript
Welcome to the Old Town of Zamość, officially known as Stare Miasto. Designed in the mid-16th century, this compact city center is a stunning example of Renaissance urban planning in Poland.
As you enter the town, you are immediately surrounded by powerful Renaissance fortifications featuring mighty bastions that protect the perimeter. Inside these walls, everything was built in the Renaissance style; even the tenement houses maintain a uniform aesthetic, creating a harmonious streetscape.
This layout was not accidental but the result of meticulous planning by Italian architects who worked to make this a model city for commerce and humanism. The location we are currently near marks the heart of this preserved district, once bustling with merchant life before the upheavals of World War I.