Sanok-Belluno Similarities and Differences


Geography:
Sanok is a town in south-easten Poland with 39110 inhabitants, while Belluno is a town in north-easten Italy with 36000 inhabitants.
Sanok is located on the bank of the river San, while Belluno isn't crossed by river.

Mountains:
• Belluno is crossed by the Dolomites, while Sanok is crossed by the Bieszczady Mountains;
• Dolomites cross one Country (Italy), while Bieszczady Mountains cross three different Countries (Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine);
• the highest Dolomites’s peak is Marmolada (3.343 m), while the highest Bieszczady’s peak is Pikuy (1.405 m);
• Both towns are included in  a National Park and they are recorded both on the list of Biosphere Reserves in UNESCO.

Economy:
 Sanok has a strong industry ( Stomil Sanok) that produce various rubber and metal-rubber seals; Belluno have got a industry (Luxottica) that produces eyewear. Belluno is very well known all over Italy because of this company, established since 1961.
Luxottica Group is an Italian company which produces and sells eyewear and is currently the world's largest manufacturer of lenses and frames, thanks to its wide range of brands under license.
Other factories that produce glasses are De Rigo and Safilo, in the outskirts of Belluno.
In Belluno's centre you can find many shops, also well-known brands (Prada, Benetton ...). Often, young people work in these stores. You can also find many offices, travel agencies, bars, ice cream shops or department stores.

Culture and Education:
In Sanok there are many secondary schools and a branch of the Polish High School of Technology; in Belluno there are also many secondary schools, including one specialising in Art and one specialising in Tourism, which is the one we are attending.

History:

 
The first written mention of the town Sanok dates back to 1150. Granted a town charter in 1339, Sanok developed to become an important trade centre. Sanok, was afflicted by numerous conflagrations and was left in a state of dilapidation following the invasions by the Tatars (1626), Swedes (1655-1660), and the army of Hungarian prince Gyorgy Rakoczi (1657). After the Partition of Poland in 1772, the town fell under Austrian rule and remained so until 1918. In the years of the German occupation during World War II it was home to a ghetto for about a thousand people and a German prison for around ten thousands prisoners (Poles, Russians, Czechs and Slovaks).
The history of Belluno dates back to around 220-200 BC, when local Venetic and Celtic population were absorbed by the Romans, expanding northwards. The initial influence of Rome was military and commercial. The town's name derives from Celtic “belo dunum”, which means “splendid hill”. It wasn't an important trade centre as Sanok was in its past, but, as it was strategically located, it protected cities to the south and became a supplier of iron and copper, sources the area was traditionally rich in (especially the area around Zoldo). The town was then juridically and politically incorporated into the Roman Republic by the second century BC. After the fall of the Roman Western Empire, it was ruled by the Lombards 6th century) and later became part of the Republic of Venice.  (1404). Then, as Sanok, at some point of its history it became an Austrian possession in 1797, until it was annexed to the Reign of Italy in1866. During the First World War,  it fell once more under Austrian occupation in 1917 until November 1, 1918. For its great resistance against the Austrian invasion, the flag of Belluno bears the Cross of War. Fortunately, unlike Sanok,  this was the last foreign invasion Belluno had to endure.

    
Museums

Civic Museum in Belluno

The Civic Museum was founded in 1872 in Belluno, located in the city centre. It is not very big and it is organized in sections: on the first floor the are the archeological findings of the province; on the second floor there are paintings on canvas  and frescos, all representatives of the pictorial art in Belluno. There are some fine sculptures by local artist Andrea Brustolo and also a mineralogical and palentological collection.
In the “cycling village”, where all streets are named after famous racers, you can find the historical Bicycle museum. All bikes or exhibitions have a history going back many years.

Rural Architecture Museum of Sanok

The Rural Architecture Museum of Sanok, also known as the Ethnographic Park, is one of the biggest open air museums in Poland. It is located on a hill by the San River and was born in 1958.
It contains 200 buildings; these buildings were relocated from different areas of Sanok Land; this museum shows how life was in the 19th century.
The park is divided into distincts, each featuring an ethnic group who lived in the region.
Churches and homes have been transported there from surrounding villages; they were restored to their original conditions and furnished with the objects of the period.
The individual ethnographic groups (the Bojko, Lemko, Pogórzanie and Dolinianie folks) are organizated in different sections.
The Bojko and Lemko architecture are situated in the upper part of the park, while the Pogòrzanie is situated in the upper part of the area.
The museums have got a large photographic archive and also contains a collection of icons dating from the 15 th to the 20 the century.
The Park was used as scenery for many movies.Walking through the park, visitors will find shrines, wells carved out of tree trunks and enclosures full of farm animals, all enveloped in lush, vibrant greenery.