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Lublin - History  

Located on a trade route to Lithuania and Russia, Lublin was already an important center by the time it received its municipal charter in 1317. Although throughout the centuries it played a prominent role in the history of the whole nation, its peak being the signing of the Lublin Union joining Poland and Lithuania into a single Commonwealth, the city still remains relatively unknown to foreign tourists.

From the original defence walls and the Krakow Gate, the remnant of Lublin's medieval wall system to the town hall and the Renaissance burgher houses in the Market Square, Lublin offers numerous visual delights. The Dominican Church, with its exquisite Firlej Chapel, is a must-see for every visitor. The same stands true for the remains of the Gothic Royal Castle, with its late 14th century Holy Trinity Chapel housing one of the finest examples of medieval Byzantine-style polychromes in Europe.

Lublin is a renowned academic center with its Maria Curie-Sklodowska University and Academy of Medicine. Lublin Catholic University, where pope John Paul II once taught, was established in 1918 and operated continuously throughout the post-war era.

Orthodox believers from the east, once numerous in the region, now constitute a religious minority grouped around Chelm, Wlodawa and Biala Podlaska. For visitors wishing to experience the exotic world of the Eastern Church, the Orthodox cloister complex with its church and chapels at Jableczna is able to be visited, while Orthodox churches still function in Wlodawa, Chelm and other towns. There are also two Muslim cemeteries in the region, one at Lebiedziew, the other at Studzianka, clearly demonstrating the existence of the Tartars in Poland whose task in the seventeenth century was to protect the Polish frontiers from invasion.

Undoubtedly the religious group to have one of the most important impacts on the Lublin region was the the Jews. Before World War II south east Poland, including the Lublin region, had been populated by a large Jewish community stretching back to the fourteenth century. In some towns they constituted more than half of the total number of inhabitants. The Nazi occupation created the Holocaust and the virtual destruction of the Jewish population. Most monuments of the Jewish culture were destroyed during this unhappy period, however over a dozen Synagogues and Jewish cemeteries have been preserved and renovated. The oldest Jewish cemetery in Poland founded in the sixteenth century is situated in Lublin City on top of the hill called the Czwartek. Over a dozen beautiful tombstones have escaped destruction, the oldest dating back to 1541. A cemetery and a monument commemorating the Jews killed in the Holocaust can also be seen in Kazimierz, while in many other villages and towns there are further memorials to the victims.

The most magnificent synagogues in the region are located in Leczna, Szczebrzeszyn, Wojslawice, Zamosc and Wlodawa, the latter dating from 1774 and whose altar is of particular note. The one synagogue in Lublin City houses the Lublin Jews Commemoration Chamber in which old photographs, Hebrew books and ritual equipment are displayed. Further evidence of the region's rich Jewish heritage is the Jeszywat Chachmej, the old wise men's Academy also in Lublin, just one more example of the historically important Jewish buildings that can be seen in the city. Elsewhere there is wooden house which belongs to a famous Saddik in Kock, and in its vicinity is a monument to Berke Joselewicz, a jew who was a Colonel in the Polish Army and who was killed there during the Polish-Austrian War of 1809.

The Lublin Renaissance

The Lublin region has a fine architectural heritage. It was at the end of the sixteenth century that the first fully developed forms of Renaissance architecture were imported into the Lublin region, The beginning of the nex century saw an enormous increase in the number of fine religious buildings developed as a result of the great wealth created by the Lublin region being one of the most important exporters of grain to Western Europe. The majority of churches were erected by architects of ltalian origin who in this way created a local style known as the Lublin Renaissance. Churches built in this style are aisleless with a bigger presbytery than is usual, which ends in a semi circle, as well as having a barrel vault. Their distinctive features are richly ornamented gables and stucco decoration of the interior. The Lublin Renaissance is best represented by the churches in Konskowola and Kazimierz Dolny.

Visitors will also be entranced by the rich ornamentation of the Renaissance house fronts, especially the high attics of the houses in a number of the region's towns and villages. The best examples of these are the Przybylow and Celejowska houses also in Kazimierz Dolny.

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