Bernardo Morando

Who was Bernardo Morando?

Bernardo Morando, also known as Bernardino or Morandi was a Polish-Italian architect. He is notable as the designer of the new town of Zamość, modelled on Renaissance theories of the 'ideal city'.

Born around 1540 in either Padua or Venice, Morando moved to Poland in 1569, where he started working as an architect. On July 1, 1578 he signed an agreement with Jan Zamoyski, one of the wealthiest men of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for a project of an ideal city and fortress for the founder. The extreme opulence that Poland's nobility enjoyed during the Renaissance left Poland's elites with not only obscene amounts of money to spend, but also motivated them to find new ways to invest their hefty fortunes away from the grasp of the Royal Treasury. Zamoyski, Great Crown Chancellor and Hetman whose financial empire within the Polish Republic spanned 6400 km² with 11 cities and over 200 villages, in addition to the royal lands he controlled of over 17 500 km² with 112 cities and 612 villages. Zamoyski's estates functioned as a country within a country, and he decided to found the city of Zamość in order to circumvent royal tariffs and duties while also serving as the capital for his mini-state.