page_title: History of Zamość
section_title: The Ideal city
hierarchical_section_title: History of Zamość / The Ideal city
caption_attribution_description: English: Zamość city plan XVII century
context_page_description: Zamość, founded in 1580, is a town in Poland.
context_section_description: "Pearl of the Renaissance", "Padua of the North", "City of arcades"–  these were the expressions used to describe Zamość not only because of the single Renaissance architecture monuments, but also because of its original, urban space layout. In Europe there are only two cities, built accordingly with the premises of the so-called "ideal city", one of them is Zamość. The concept of the "ideal city" was not made by the Italian architects of the Renaissance era. The "ideal city" was supposed to be geometric, straight and congruous with its form, which leashed it. The author of the first vision of the city was Plato, who wanted to divide the city into counties, which would be placed in the middle of the city as a central point. However, Hippoadamus of Miletus had a different plan. His idea was that the place would be based on the streets delineated in  perpendicular and parallel lines. That is how Piraeus looks like.
  Most of the historic buildings are located in the Old Town. The main distinguishing features of the Old Town have been well preserved since its establishment. It includes the regular Great Market Square of 100 x 100 meters with the splendid Town Hall and so-called Armenian houses, as well as the fragments of the original fortress and fortifications, including those from the period of the Russian occupation in the 19th century.
  At the end of the 19th century the Polish Chancellor Jan Zamoyski, the owner of 24 cities and about 800 villages wanted to build the city, which would be his family seat, the impregnable fortes and architecturally imposing place. He commissioned the Italian architect Bernardo Morando to design this city that would be based on the anthropomorphic concept.
  The Chancellor Jan founded the construction of the city "from scratch". It was designed and planned in the 15th century, the city however, was never built, and its plans are only on the scheme. Zamość survived until today as one of the unique projects of the Renaissance ideal city.
  The essence of the Renaissance and urbanistic plan (based on the "checkerboard scheme"), which was accomplished in Zamość demonstrates the most significant features of the Era, which differ from the composition of the Medieval Era. The plan bases on two intersecting at an acute angle axes, on which two main streets of the city are placed. The main point in this layout is the castle, which is surrounded by a large rectangular area with the size of 166x170m, which is encircled by a castle wall with the entrance gate placed above the axis.
  On the region of the axis the Great Market was created with the size of 100x100. In the middle of the market there is a transverse axis of the whole composition, which passes at the right angle. On this axis there are two other symmetric spaces, which are : Salt Square and Water Square, functioning as the "internal organs" of the city whereas the bastions are the "hands and legs" for self-defense. The series of manor houses are placed on the line parallel to the axis. These houses have a homogenous architecture and create an appropriate background for the architectural forms.
  Zamość in not only a great achievement of the Polish Renaissance city planning, but also it may be used as an example for the modern city builders. The main thought is the example of adjusting the concept of the spatial layout to the terrain conditions, the wealth of the program of public buildings, paying attention to the architectural composition in the scale of the city, flexible control of the project and reconciling freedom with discipline.
caption: City plan XVII
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