Old Towns in Poland

[valpomike]

Many of the old towns, in many city's look alike, and many of the towns also look alike. Or it that just me?

[Bonobo]

Apr 6, 2008 22:06:17 GMT 1 valpomike said:

Many of the old towns, in many city's look alike, and many of the towns also look alike. Or it that just me?

No, it`s not just your opinion, Mike. I have the same impression. The Old Towns in many cities look the same because they were all built according to a unified design several centuries ago.

Most towns and cities in Poland were started in the Middle Ages or even before. They were built according to the so called Magdeburg Rights
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdeburg_rights


and their medieval architectonic layout has been retained till today:

Kalisz:


With variations, they possess the following features:

Many European localities date their foundation to their reception of a town charter, even though they had existed as a settlement beforehand.
Cities with German city rights often had similar layouts. Somewhat isolated was part of the city containing the residence and castle of the regional ruler, along with a cathedral. The city proper was centered around a market square which featured a church for wealthy merchants and artisans. Streets led out from the market in a planned grid system or concentric circles in which less wealthy citizens lived; riverfront sections of a city were designed with semicircles. The perimeter of the city was guarded by defensive walls, gates, and moats. If the city had already existed as a settlement, pre-existing defenses were sometimes incorporated into the fortifications. Cities whose layouts depict this type of urban planning include Wroc³aw, Kraków, Vienna, Brno, and Prague.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_town_law


Check an extensive article on the plans of medieval towns in Poland
www.urbanform.org/online_unlimited/um199902_63-78.pdf

Example:

Kraków

[Bonobo]

Warsaw

[Bonobo]

Wrocław is a bit too flashy

[Bonobo]

Zamośc

[Bonobo]

Kalisz