Bugle Call in Zamosc

Bugle call sounded towards three directions of the world. From May till September at midday every day a trumpeter dressed in gentry clothes sounds a bugle call from the town hall spire. The custom of sounding the bugle call from the spire was probably introduced in Jan Zamoyski’s day, however, the bugle call was sounded towards three directions of the world only. Legend has it that the founder of Zamosc came into conflict with the townsmen of Krakow since he had objected to sentencing Samuel Zborowski and, as a result, he forbad his trumpeter to sound the bugle call towards Krakow.

Experts in Zamosc history, however, claim that since the very beginning the bugle call was sounded towards the three entrance gates to the fortress. Since there is no evidence supporting either view and the views are not mutually exclusive, the dispute remains unsettled and both opinions have been accepted. There is some information about the bugle call introduced in 1647 on the initiative of Jan Sobiepan Zamoyski. However, when Jan Sobiepan died, this bugle call was abandoned. The first known trumpeter was then Jan Trembacz vel Medycki. Unfortunately, no information about the bugle call sounded in the 18th and 19th century has been preserved. What they do know is that the bugle call was sounded again at the end of the 1918 on the initiative of a police superintendent Adam Sobocinski. At that time it was sounded at 7.00 am, at noon and at 7.00 pm. Soon afterwards the custom of sounding the bugle call was abandoned and the sound of the trumpet was heard only on the mornings of some important state or military holidays. In 1939 Stefan Miler filed a petition with the Town Council in which he asked for the bugle call to be sounded again from the town hall spire. After the war Marian Sliwinski, a local musician, won a competition for the Zamosc bugle call, which was sounded again on 22 July 1947 to be abandoned again.  Zamosc is one of the few Polish towns where a bugle call announces noon.

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