Rudnik on the San: spatial arrangement and changes in town topography from the mid-sixteenth to late nineteenth century

Abstract

Rudnik on the San River is an example of one of the first private foundations of a town in Sandomierz Land, which was to become the administrative and economic centre of a small estate consisting of several villages and at the same time, due to its location by the Sandomierz – Przemyśl route and near the navigable San, it also took part in regional trade. The size and spatial arrangement of town reflected its needs in this context. Here we can see one of the first attempts in this area to apply the Renaissance concept of a private town combined with the owners seat. Full realization of this concept, as well as the development of the town in line with initial expectations, were hampered by frequent changes of ownership, their limited financial resources, competition from other private towns, and finally warfare in the second half of the seventeenth century with the consequent economic crisis.