THE FORTRESS YESTERDAY

Zamość Fortress, one of the largest fortresses in the First Republic of Poland and then in the Duchy of Warsaw and in the Congress Kingdom of Poland, was built in 1579-1618 to defend a town founded by Hetman Jan Zamoyski in 1580. Started in 1586 and completed in 1618, the construction of bastioned fortifications was based on Bernardo Morando’s design.

The fortifications were modernized several times by the following outstanding military engineers:

• Andrea dell’Aqua in 1618-23
• Jan Michał Link in 1687-93
• Colonel Jean-Baptiste Mallet (later during his service in the Congress Kingdom of Poland known as General Jan Mallet-Malletski) in 1809-13 and 1817-26.

Modernization works lasted till 1856

In 1866 -1868, on the order of Tsar Alexander II, the fortress was closed down and most of its fortifications were demolished. Their preserved remains have been maintained (with some elements being supplemented) since the 1930s till the present day.

You have just reached the background of Bastion IV and a huge, earthen retrenchment. It was completed during the November Uprising, the only Polish national uprising against partitioners which could have been successful. There is no better place to tell about the role Zamość played in the uprising. What made the fortress an excellent base for insurgents was its location in the south east of the Congress Kingdom of Poland, proximity of Galicia from which volunteers and supplies arrived and proximity of the part of the Republic of Poland taken over by Russia. In December 1830 Colonel Ignacy Prądzyński, an outstanding military engineer, became a deputy commander of Zamość Fortress. Although he stayed in Zamość only for two months, he contributed significantly to further improvement of readiness of the fortress for defence and sorties. He continued the fortification works started by Malletski and set up sortie units in the fortress consisting of infantry, cavalry and field artillery batteries. Before the beginning of fights, fortress crew consisted of about 4300 soldiers. General Julian Sierawski was appointed the Commander of the fortress; he held the post till 6 February 1831 when he was replaced by Colonel Jan Krysiński. During the first stage of fights, from February till July 1831, the fortress was a base for attacking Russian units in the neighbouring towns; as a result, Russians were temporarily driven from Hrubieszów and Janów Lubelski. At times also larger units of insurgents, commanded by Generals Dwernicki and Chrzanowski, were stationed in the fortress. However, in July a blockade of the fortress started. Enemy’s attempts to approach the gates of the town were repelled; in spite of the blockade, the defenders continued their offensive military operations, drawing to Zamość many Russian troops. On 22 September Russians started heavy fire, damaging Basilian monks’ monastery (demolished in 1865). Defenders replied with fortress fire. On 22 October, having learned that other pockets of resistance in Poland, i.e. Warsaw and Modlin had surrendered, a decision about honorary surrender was made. The crew was allowed to leave the fortress and officers kept their side and firearms. Russians failed to keep the agreed terms of surrender with respect to soldiers coming from eastern part of the Republic of Poland; they were detained, tried and pardoned only after several years. After the fall of the uprising, a permanent Russian garrison of about 2000 soldiers was stationed in the fortress.