Torun

Torun is a towm in Poland where Copernicus was born. It was a very rich town in the middle ages and many monuments of gothic architecture survive there to this day. One of those gothic buildings in Marychurch, where medieval wall paintings are preserved. Some of those paintings are accompanied by inscriptions in monumental textura script. Two samples of those inscriptions I reproduce here. It has an eerie quality reminding me of Chinese calligraphy, where you can see the movement of the hand.

 

Biecz

Biecz (pron. Byetch) is a pretty little town in southeastern Poland, at the foot of Carpathian Mountains. It has old wooden town houses and an interesting Renaissance town hall of extraordinary proportions, but here is a place for a Renaissance poem in its parish church. The script used is based on capitalis elegans, but at first sight looks poor quality. The interesting bit is the composition, the unusual "w" and "z" create a rhythm that probably was intentional.