Lublin

City of inspirations Lublin is Poland’s youth capital – not surprising, considering that one in four people living here is a university student. Young people flock to music festivals, theatre festivals, cinemas and, of course, clubs.

The background for all this entertainment is the well-preserved Old Town, with its irregular-shaped Market Square, the Crown Tribunal which starts the 300m Underground Tourist Route, and stunning tenement buildings – Renaissance, Baroque and neo-Classical.

Here and away

 Lublin Airport – 10km  Warsaw – 155km

Budapest – 490km

Minsk – 450km

Vilnius – 425km

Kaliningrad – 410km

Overview

�� 1317  343 k  147 km2  3 956 PLN  71 k

Culture & Nature

�� 9  6  10 Food & Stay

 2261  350  48

AbOVE: Urban Highline is an extreme version of slacklining, with the webbing suspended between two buildings. This is one of the largest highlining events in the world and the only one to be entirely held in the city centre (mostly in the historic old town) •

Lublin is not just old walls and history that is visible to the naked eye, but also a modern approach to memory and avantgarde artistic initiatives. An expression of this can be found in the city’s numerous murals, which often recall that which is only present through its absence, such as the huge queues to shops during Communist times, or Jewish culture (before World War II the city was home to the largest Talmudic study centre in the world, Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva). Another original method of getting to know the city is during the annual excursion along the route described in the works of Józef Czechowicz, a Lublin poet who died in World War II. It’s always held during a full moon in July •

AbOVE: Market Square with the Crown Tribunal building in the centre. The Crown Tribunal replaced a wooden city hall which burned down in 1389. The new building was in place by the 15th century • RIGhT: Lublin is betting on ecology. It is one of three cities in Poland that use trolleybuses, and the network was recently expanded. A prototype electric bus is also in operation. You can even admire a trolleybus mural painted by the French artists Zoer & Velvet •

RIGhT: Lublin is one of Poland’s oldest and most important theatre centres, always open to alternative and creative ferment, from the Gardzienice Centre for Theatre Practices to the Carnaval Sztukmistrzów (Circus and Street Theatre Carnival) •

King Casimir III the Great ordered defensive walls and gates to be built around Lublin in the mid-14th century, following a menacing Tatar raid. Of these medieval fortifications, the best preserved are the Cracow Gate (Brama Krakowska, AbOVE), which was named after the route and the suburb towards which it led. The City Gate (Brama Grodzka, LEFT), which was fully rebuilt along with its neighboring houses, (current home to the ‘Grodzka Gate - NN Theatre’ Centre) and the round Gothic Tower (FAR LEFT) •

City with a view

Jacek Lusiński – film director, screenwriter and songwriter

I love to go to the restaurant at the Hotel Victoria (bELOW). The huge neon letters spelling out the name of the hotel create an atmospheric red glow, and you can admire the panorama of the entire city from there.

The Jewish Cemetery (bOTTOM) is beautiful. You have to make an appointment with a guide before visiting, but it’s worth the effort. The guide tells some fascinating stories. I particularly remember one mysterious tombstone decorated completely differently from the others. In the Jewish tradition, engravings on tombstones all have a symbolic significance, and they are repeated in all the cemeteries, but this one matzevah is like no other. No one knows why or what the decorations mean. The cemetery is somewhat wild with abundant undergrowth, creating an incredible atmosphere.

For total relaxation hike up Wzgórze Czwartek (Thursday Hill). There’s an old church and a school there, but the goal of the hike is to relax on the grass, enjoy a picnic and take in the splendid view of Lublin •

Lublin Rural Museum

The open-air museum maintains peasant huts, noble manor houses, and two wooden churches: Greek Catholic (AbOVE) and Roman Catholic. The museum’s traditional Dutch-style windmill (LEFT) was recently brought back to life thanks to the efforts of an experienced miller •

Majdanek

The German concentration camp in Lublin, commonly known as Majdanek, operated between October 1941 and July 1944. The camp was meant to serve as a source of free labour to be used in building a German empire in the East. Prisoners at the camp hailed from nearly 30 countries. The Monument to Struggle and Martyrdom, designed by Wiktor Tołkin and Janusz Dembek, was built following an architectural competition held at the request of former prisoners who found the then existing memorials to be too modest. The competition attracted significant attention throughout the country and some 140 designs were submitted to the jury •

TOP: Kazimierz Dolny’s cobblestone market square is the city’s focal point. The arcaded houses (LEFT) lining the square t survived largely unscathed to this day

AbOVE: The Kazimierz Landscape Park features Europe’s largest concentration of ravines. One of the most spectacular ones is the Korzeniowy Dół (Pit of Roots) ravine •

Kazimierz Town of painters

The views from the hills over the town and the Vistula’s Małopolska Gorge will take your breath away. There’s no end to the sunbathing, hiking, biking and boating opportunities. During the winter there are several ski stations nearby. The location is also ideal for cross-country skiing, sledding and sleigh rides. The residents add to the magic of Kazimierz and are eager to share tidbits of local history and legends in the cafés lining the market square. Summertime brings a number of festivals, such as the Festival of Folk Groups and Singers, Kazimiernikejszyn, offering concerts and active recreation, and the Two Riversides festival. The musical group Dziady Kazimierskie sings about the beauty of Kazimierz and its surroundings, with their concerts attracting both young and old •

Włodzimierz Dembowski, musician with the groups Łąki Łan and Dziady Kazimierskie

Just 44km from Lublin, Kazimierz Dolny is one of Poland’s most beautiful and unusual towns. With its many historic landmarks, it is regarded as the Lublin region’s Renaissance gem. It is the centre point of the Kazimierz Landscape Park and the Land of Loess Gorges, with thousands of these geological formations in the area. Because of its picturesque character, Kazimierz became a favourite town for artists, particularly painters.

For over a century this beautifully situated town crammed with Renaissance landmarks has served as a mecca for artistic bohemians – not just painters, but figures from the literary and film worlds. This cultural tradition is continued today with events such as the Two Riversides Film and Art Festival (held in Kazimierz and Janowiec, across the Vistula) •