Europe Trip 2018 - Zamość, Poland

Zamość is a small town in south-east Poland. It is the hometown of Marek Grechuta. It is on the UNESCO heritage list:

Zamość is a unique example of a Renaissance town in Central Europe, consistently designed and built in accordance with the Italian theories of the "ideal town," on the basis of a plan which was the result of perfect cooperation between the open-minded founder, Jan Zamoyski, and the outstanding architect, Bernardo Morando. Zamość is an outstanding example of an innovative approach to town planning, combining the functions of an urban ensemble, a residence, and a fortress in accordance with a consistently implemented Renaissance concept. 

Armenian houses

Town hall

When I visited, there was a beach volleyball competition on the main market square:

 

This Armenian house is now a museum

An interesting practice of "splitting" another painting and adding some features. The small one on the bottom left is the original from 1866 by Jan Matejko. It is called "Rejtan - The Fall of Poland". The extended version on top is from 1896 and is displayed in the Zamość Museum. 

Polish was spelled differently in the past: U was V. J was either not written (NASWIĘTSZEY instead of NAJŚWIĘTSZEJ) or written as Y or I. KATEDRA is spelt with an H here: KATHEDRA. KS is spelled with X.

This looks like an Australian or American Wild West tavern. I can easily imagine horses waiting outside.

Synagogue from 1600s. It is still used for religious services, but it also hosts a museum.

A model of the Armenian church - destroyed after WW2 to build an ugly hotel. Armenian merchants helped build the city, but later, according to my guide, lost the competition to Jews and left.

Catholic Church - there is a view of the town from the tower

This view

The original Zamoyski palace, later barracks, and now social housing in desperate need of repair