2010-09-08 50 23

Participant

About

Haspoint very close to the center of Zamość - and as it was another virgin graticule I decided to go for it!

Expedition

I'm feeling lazy today, so let's quote wikipedia:

Zamość is a town in southeastern Poland with 66,633 inhabitants. It was founded in the year 1580 by the Chancellor and Hetman (head of the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) Jan Zamoyski, on the trade route linking western and northern Europe with the Black Sea. Modelled on 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 (Zamość Fortress), 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 (read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamosc).

The weather was nice, the bus ride from my home city took only and hour and half. And so after 20 years I was once again visiting Zamość :). I was collected by my friend living in that city, so I didn't have to wander around, but we went straight to the haspoint. It was very close and of course in the middle of some field (after checking hashes you can get a feeling that Poland is 99% made of fields, but I digress).

After that we went to see the famous historical city center and Zamość Fortress - let's check wikipedia again: Zamość Fortress (Polish: Twierdza Zamość) is a set of fortifications constructed together with the city of Zamość (southeastern Poland). It was built between 1579 and 1618, and the construction was initiated by Chancellor and Hetman Jan Zamoyski. It was one of the biggest fortresses of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, built so solidly that it was able to resist the attacks of both the Cossacks and the Swedes during the Deluge. It was taken down in 1866, although fragments survive.

Altogether, the fortress went through six sieges, with the first one taking place in 1648, during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Eight years later it was surrounded by the Swedes, who came there again in 1703, then, in 1809, by the army of the Duchy of Warsaw, which captured it from the Austrians. The longest one was the siege of Zamość of 1813, when the Polish garrison for 8 months defended the fortress from the Russians. The last siege took place during the November Uprising, when Zamość was the last point of Polish defence which fell to the Russians. The fortress, which had in the meantime become obsolete, was closed down in 1866. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamosc_Fortress).

As I still had some time to kill I decided to go to the movies (Avatar extended edition in 3D). The movie was nice but gave me a headache, I can't get used to 3D glasses. After another 1,5 hour on the bus I was back home.

That was my 8th expedition and 4th virgin graticule. Go me!