The former St. Casimir’s Church and monastery of the Reformed Franciscan Order
The Reformed Franciscans were a faction of the Franciscan Order invited to Lublin by Marianna Bogucka and Helena Sapieżyna, who donated to them a property located in Żmigród. There, in the years 1663-1674, the Friars built a church and a monastery with a beautiful garden, all founded by Mikołaj Bieganowski.
In the beginning of the 18th c. the monastery was given to the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God, while the Reformed Franciscans were scattered over the region (e.g. in Chełm, Kazimierz Dolny, Sandomierz). The church furnishings, altars and holy paintings were taken to Kazimierz Dolny. In 1838 the Brothers Hospitallers left the facilities, which soon began to be used by the army and poor residents of the city. The garden was open to the public, which consequently led to its devastation.
In 1844 the buildings were bought by the industrialist Karol Rudolf Vetter, who converted them into a brewery owned by the Vetter Family till 1927. After that the brewery became the property of Tadeusz Karszo-Siedecki, and after World War II it was nationalised by the state and included in the Lublin Beer-Brewing-Malting Industries. In the 1990s the company gained the status of a joint stock company and later on changed its name to ‘Perła – Lublin Breweries’.
Church of St. Peter the Apostle
The church and the convent were erected in the years 1636-1658 for the order of Bernadine Sisters, who came to Lublin in the beginning of the 17th c. Both buildings were founded by Piotr Czerny of Witowice. In the first half of the 18th c. a tower was constructed next to the church. The present look of the church is a result of reconstruction works undertaken after the fire in 1768.
After the dissolution of the Bernardine Order in 1864, the buildings were given to diocesan priests. They were returned to the order in 1918, but the Sisters handed them over to the Jesuits in 1920.
The interior walls of the church are decorated with illusionistic neo-Baroque polychromes painted by the Lublin artist Władysław Barwicki (1897). At the main altar hangs the painting of St. Peter in Doubt by Antoni Michalak.
The entrance to the church is from the side of Królewska Street, near the monument to priest Jerzy Popiełuszko.
St. Josaphat’s Orthodox Church
This church was built in 1786 by Greek Orthodox merchants living in a small community in Lublin. There was a need to build a new temple as the Orthodox church in Ruska Street was given to the Greek-Catholic Church in the 17thc.
The Lublin Greek Orthodox parish was subordinated to the Patriarch in Constantinople, but the small local community was unable to support the new temple financially, so consequently it began to fall into disrepair. At the end of the 19th c. it was taken over by the Russian Orthodox Church subordinated to the Patriarchate of Moscow.
In 1922 the church underwent a radical reconstruction of the interior connected with the removal of the iconostasis and became a Roman Catholic temple, consecrated and named after St. Josaphat. After World War II some of the buildings of the church complex were converted into the seat of Caritas, a charity organisation. Presently they host St Brother Albert’s Aid Society.
St. Josaphat’s Church is a hall church under a single immense roof, without a choir area, which makes it an exception among Lublin churches. Inside it has contemporary furnishings.
St. Joseph’s Church and the convent
Before it was turned into a convent, the building in Świętoduska Street was a Renaissance fortified manor owned by the voivod Rafał Leszczyński, leader of the Lublin Calvinist community. It was built in the years 1619-1622 by Jakub Balin and bought by the Carmelite Sisters. The adaptation of the building lasted from 1630 to 1635. When the convent was completed, the construction of the church began (1636-1640). Founded by Katarzyna Ligęzina, St. Joseph’s Church was erected as an oriented, one-nave temple without a tower. It has a façade which is crowned with an ornamental gable, a barrel vault and stucco decorations characteristic of the Lublin Renaissance style.
In 1807 the Carmelite Sisters were relocated to the convent in Staszica Street and the building was given to the Discalced Carmelites, whose monastery in Krakowskie Przedmieście burnt down in a fire.
After the dissolution of the order in 1864, the building of the convent served as military quarters, and at the end of the 19th c. – as a prison. At the turn of the 20th c. during the renovation, a neo-Renaissance attic was built on the bell tower and the gable was embellished with sgraffiti by the painter Władysław Barwicki. The Carmelite Order reclaimed some of the buildings in 1917 and the rest - in 1988.
The interior décor is in a Baroque style.
Church of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady
In the mid-17th c. Mikołaj Daniłłowicz and his wife Zofia nèe Tęczyńska initiated the construction of the second convent for the Carmelite Sisters in Lublin and of the Church of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady. However, a shortage of funds delayed the building process and it was not until the beginning of the 18th c. that the church was finished, owing to financial support from Elżbieta Sieniawska, and consecrated in 1721.
The church was erected on a Latin cross plan. It has a typical Lublin Renaissance façade with vertical and horizontal divisions, pinnacles on both sides and a triangular gable. Situated north of the church, the Carmelite convent was originally designed as a quadrilateral building with a cloister.
In 1807 the Carmelite nuns from St. Joseph’s Church were relocated into the convent. In 1809 a part of the building was converted into a military hospital – called St. Vincent de Paul Hospital from 1818 and run by the Daughters of Charity (the Grey Sisters) from 1826. The Carmelite Sisters eventually left the convent in the 1870s. At the turn of the 20th c. all the buildings were thoroughly reconstructed and extended. Since World War II the whole complex has been used by the National Clinical Hospital.
Church of Transfiguration of Christ by the Metropolitan Clerical Seminar
The building of the present-day clerical seminar used to be a Renaissance palace built at the beginning of the 17th c. for Bernard Suchorabski. In the mid 17th c. the southern and northern façades were embellished with medallions depicting historic rulers of Poland and emblematic presentations of their reign. The medallions formed a decorative frieze which has survived to the present day.
In 1700 the property was purchased and adapted for the needs of a clerical seminar by St. Vincent de Paul’s Congregation of the Mission, who came to Lublin to provide teaching and training courses for seminarians and priests. The Baroque Church of Transfiguration of Christ was built next to it in the years 1719-1730.
Works on the interior of the church, founded by Jan Tarło, lasted over 20 years. Famous artists and sculptors, Eliasz Hoffman, Sebastian Zeisel and Szymon Czechowicz, created the altars and ornamental furnishings of the temple. The church and its interior décor have remained almost unchanged to the present day. The only modification is the neo-Gothic chapel added in the 19th c., which features an iconostasis painted by Jerzy Nowosielski.
Church of the Holy Spirit
In the 15th c. on the site of the present church stood a wooden St. John’s chapel and a hospital. Then the site was located outside the walls of medieval Lublin. In 1419 the wooden buildings burnt down in a fire, so a new brick Gothic church was erected there. Located next to it, a new wooden hospital served as a shelter for poor and disabled inhabitants of Lublin.
After the fires in 1575 and 1602 the church was reconstructed in the Lublin Renaissance style and a new chancel with a semicircular apse was added to the Gothic nave. The renovation was completed in 1610. The church underwent further alterations as two chapels were added in the 17th c., and at the beginning of the 18th c., after another fire, the walls were heightened and a church-porch and belfry were built on to the western side of the building.
The interior of the church is Baroque in style, though fragments of Renaissance stucco ornaments can still be seen. At the main altar hangs the painting of Mother of God with Child, which is believed to have shed blood tears in 1642. After this event pilgrims flocked to the church to pray in front of the miraculous painting.
The 17th-century construction works also included building a new hospital of the Holy Spirit and a connector over the street known as the Świętoduska Gate. The hospital gradually collapsed into ruin and was demolished in the mid 19th c.
St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church and the Monastery of the Capuchin Order
The Capuchin Order arrived in Lublin in 1721. Built in the years 1726-33, the church and the monastery complex were founded by Paweł Sanguszko, buried in the church crypt, and his wife Anna, née Lubomirska.
The exterior and interior of the church were meant to reflect the strict Capuchin monastic rule. The façade is modest, decorated only with pilasters and statues of St. Peter and St. Paul. The roof and the original interior décor destroyed in 1768 in the fire were thoroughly reconstructed. The neo-Gothic Chapel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was added to the eastern side of the building in 1857. Inside there is a white marble statue of Our Lady by W. Oleszczyński. The interior of the church is modest and devoid of superfluous gilded decorations and paintings, with unpolychromed oak altars.
When the Capuchin Order was relocated to Łomża in 1864, the church was given to diocesan priests and the monastery converted into a storehouse. In 1919 the buildings were reclaimed by the Capuchins.
Church of the Conversion of St. Paul
The Bernadine Order settled in Lublin in the mid-15th c. and began the construction of a wooden church and a monastery in 1460. From the 1470s to the turn of the 16th c. first a brick church and later a convent were erected. After the fire in 1602, the temple was rebuilt and transformed into a three-nave basilica with six adjoining chapels in the Lublin Renaissance style and became an exemplar for other buildings erected in the Lublin Region. The vault of the church is decorated with intricate stuccos and the eastern side of the church features a characteristic gable covered with strapwork.
The church has a particularly interesting interior décor, partially due to generosity and favour of Lublin residents who founded many of its furnishings and decorations. The Baroque side altars were artistically carved by Fryderyk Kargier and Sebastian Zeisel (sculptors connected with the Czartoryski Family in Puławy). The main altar features a miraculous painting of St. Anthony, while one of the side altars enshrines the holy relics of St. Valentine. Inside there are many Renaissance tombstones and epitaph plaques e.g of Wojciech Oczko – the court medical doctor of the last Jagiellon kings and Stephen Bathory.
Lublin Cathedral
The Church of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist was built in the years 1586-1604 for the Jesuit Order. It was designed by the Jesuit Jan Maria Bernardoni inspired by the seat of the order in Rome – the Il Gesu Church. In the 18th c. Józef Meyer decorated the interior of the church with beautiful wall paintings depicting biblical scenes. This Jesuit church became the cathedral in 1805 when the Lublin diocese was created. Partially damaged during World War II, the cathedral was renovated and given the shape we can see today. Inside there are amazing illusionistic polychromes and rich interior décor.
Lublin Cathedral is a place of many curiosities. One of them is the acoustic vestry with a specially constructed vault that carries sound. If you whisper quietly in one corner of the vestry, you will be heard by a person standing in the opposite corner. Don’t miss two other places well-worth seeing - the treasury and the crypts.
Church of the Assumption of Our Lady of Victory
The church was built in the years 1412–1426 for the Birgittine Order as a votive offering of King Ladislaus Jagiello for the victory in the battle of Grunwald predicted by St. Birgitta.
In the first half of the 17th c. the chancel was roofed with a barrel vault with lunettes and covered with Lublin Renaissance stuccos shaped like ribs and medallions decorated with figural and vegetal motifs. The stucco ornaments were also made in the southern wing of the convent. Neo-Gothic altars and the pulpit date back to the beginning of the 20th c. The 17th-century stalls feature paintings depicting the life of St. Birgitta.
During the restoration of the church in the years 2009–2012, the remains of a chapel that had existed on the site before the erection of the church were exposed and now they can be seen under a glass floor. Tourists can visit the crypts and the church tower. The attic of the church is decorated with 15th-century Gothic polychromes.
Litewski Square
Historic records suggest that in the 16th c. Lithuanian noblemen resided here during the proceedings of the Sejm debating on the signing of the Polish-Lithuanian Union in 1569. This significant event is commemorated with a monument shaped like an obelisk. In the square there are also monuments to the Unknown Soldier, the Constitution of May 3rd 1791, and to Marshal Józef Piłsudski. Buildings situated by the northern side of the square used to be palaces owned by the Czartoryski Family, the Lubomirski Family or the Governorate authorities after the partitions of Poland. Opposite there is an impressive edifice of the Main Post Office in Lublin, which owes its present look to a reconstruction from 1921.
Monument to the Union of Lublin
The obelisk was erected in 1826 on Stanisław Staszic’s initiative to commemorate the signing of the Polish-Lithuanian Union in Lublin in 1569 – one of the most important events in the history of Lublin. The monument is situated in Litewski Square, where Lithuanian noblemen resided during the proceedings of the Sejm in 1569. The concept of the monument was put forward by Feliks Bentkowski, while Paweł Maliński created the relief depicting two female figures holding out their hands to each other with Polish and Lithuanian coats of arms in the middle.
Krakowskie Przedmieście
The part of Krakowskie Przedmieście between Litewski Square and the Old Town is lined with historic townhouses, which were transformed in the 19th c. into tenement houses. Decorative elements of the façades have survived on some of the buildings. Heading in the direction of the Old Town you can see two interesting buildings on your left – the 15th-century Church of the Holy Spirit and the New City Hall, the seat of Lublin’s authorities built on the site of the burnt-down church and monastery of the Discalced Carmelites.
August and Juliusz Vetter Economic School Complex
Located in 14 Bernardyñska Street, this imposing red brick edifice of the former School of Trade was erected in the years 1906-1907 in a neo-Gothic style according to the design by Józef Holewiński and Teofil Wiśniewski. The school was founded by August Karol Vetter, a German Evangelical and Lublin industrialist well known for his charity work.
It was the first educational facility in Congress Poland that received permission from Tsarist authorities to teach in Polish. Graduates of the school include e.g. Jerzy de Tramecourt – the last Lublin voivod before World War II and Bolesław Bierut, president of The People’s Republic of Poland.
Palace of the Lubomirski Family
In its history the palace belonged to many eminent Polish aristocratic families. In the 15th c. it was a Renaissance manor of the Firlej Family. In the 17th c. the Lubomirski Family commissioned Tylman van Gameren, a distinguished Flemish architect, for the remodelling of the palace in a Baroque style. Subsequent owners of the palace included the Sanguszko Family and the Szeptycki Family. In 1829 a fire broke out destroying a part of the palace which was rebuilt in a new Classicist style designed by Henryk Marconi, an acclaimed architect of Italian origin.
The plaque by the main entrance commemorates the formation of the Temporary People’s Government of the Republic of Poland here on 7th November 1918.
Presently the building is used by the Faculty of Political Science of the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University.
The Holy Trinity Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession
The largest parish of Evangelical denomination east of the Vistula River is located in Lublin. The Parish Church of the Holy Trinity stands on the corner of I Armii Wojska Polskiego Street and Ewangelicka Street.
The church was designed by F. August Zylchert and built in the years 1785-1788 after receiving the consent from King Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski. In compliance with building regulations in force at that time, the Evangelical temple was erected in an ‘appropriate’ distance of 800 metres from the nearest Catholic church.
The Holy Trinity Evangelical Church is a modest, one-nave building in a Classicist style, typical of Protestant sacral architecture. The interior décor comes from the former Protestant parish church in Piaski Luterskie (on the Lublin – Zamość route). The most precious elements of the interior include the Baroque pulpit and the altar with the 1628 painting of the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. The place also features a collection of unique coffin epitaphs inscribed on tinned plates (e.g. of August Vetter, Henryk and Edward Krausse). Next to the church there is a small graveyard with many historic tombstones of distinguished Lublin Protestants.
The Orthodox Church of Transfiguration of Christ
Built in the years 1607-1633 in Ruska Street between the Staromiejskie and Czwartek Hills, the temple is an example of a multi-religious character of Lublin. In 1638 King Ladislaus IV Vasa subordinated the Orthodox church to the Bishop of Chełm Metody Terlecki, who seated Basilian monks there, supporters of the Union of Brest.
The original Renaissance design of the barrel vault of the chancel was restored in the years 2002–2003. It features painted images of the Holy Spirit, cherubs, seraphs and archangels as well as stucco rosettes, plaques and winged cherubs’ heads. Fragments of a 17th-century polychrome depicting the crucifixion can be seen on the western wall of the nave.
The most precious element of the interior is the late-Renaissance iconostasis from the first half of the 17th c. with icons dating from the 16th and the 17th c. The oldest icon was painted in the mid-16th c. and depicts the Dormition of the Virgin Mary.
Palace of the Czartoryski Family
The palace was built in a Baroque style at the turn of the 18th c. according to the design by Tylman van Gameren, but was remodelled in 1728 under the supervision of the architect Frantisek Magier. First owned by the Lubomirski Family and the Sieniawski Family, it eventually became the property of the Czartoryski Family. In time the palace served varied functions (e.g. as a snuff factory and a cinema) and lost much of its original style.
After World War II the palace was rebuilt by the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society (PTTK), which had its offices and a tourist shelter there. In the 1970s it was restored to its original Baroque style by the Lublin Scientific Society, which presently has its seat in the building.
The Grand Hotel Lublinianka (the former seat of the Bank of Lublin Industrialists)
This impressive building was built in 1900 according to the design by Gustaw Landau Gutenteger. Situated on the corner of Krakowskie Przedmieście and Kołłątaja Street, the majestically looking eclectic edifice has two representative façades crowned with a cupola with a lantern. Renamed in 1926, the Bank of Lublin Industrialists and Farmers offered affordable loans for the development of local entrepreneurship. During World War II the building was claimed by the Nazi occupants who established the German House there. In 1951 the State Treasury designated it to be a hotel. In the years 2001-2002 the building was thoroughly renovated and its original features restored. Then it became an elegant four-star hotel.
The Europa Hotel
Built in the years 1865-1867 in an eclectic style according to the design by Ludwik Szamota, the building is a replica of the Europejski Hotel in Warsaw. It has always enjoyed a reputation of a modern, fully equipped facility with exquisite customer service. On the strength of the last will of the Michelson Family, the property was bequeathed to the Lublin Charitable Society.
Having been damaged during World War II, the building was fully restored and for many years served as a hostel of the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society (PTTK).
In 2002, following comprehensive refurbishment and adaptation works conducted by Zomar S.A. and Tadeusz Fijałkowski, the building became the Europa Hotel again. It is praised by its guests for top-quality service and excellent cuisine. The façade of the building is decorated with painstakingly restored plaster heads located above the pilasters.
Juliusz Osterwa Theatre
The theatre was designed by Karol Kozłowski in an eclectic style and built in the years 1884-1886. Despite many refurbishments and modernisations the building has preserved its original fin de siecle façade and interior décor of the hall and the auditorium. The Lublin venue attracted the elite of the theatre stage including Juliusz Osterwa, Aleksander Zelwerowicz, Stefan Jaracz, Ludwik Solski, Helena Modrzejewska, Mieczysława Ćwiklińska, and Ryszarda Hanin.
Juliusz Osterwa Theatre continues to provide best-quality entertainment and acts as an important centre of culture for the city and the whole Lublin Region.
New City Hall
The New City Hall was built on the site of the early-17th-century church and monastery complex of the Discalced Carmelite Order. The great fire in 1803 completely destroyed the monastic buildings, so the city authorities purchased the ruined property and assigned it for a new Lublin city hall. The reconstruction works in the years 1827-28 transformed the nave and western side chapels into rooms and offices, while the façade was given Classicist features and a four-columned portico.
Presently the building is the seat of the authorities of the Lublin Municipality, including Mayor of Lublin City.
Bishops’ Palace – the seat of the Metropolitan Curia
This 18th-century palace was originally a noble residence. In the first half of the 19th c. it was turned by the Tsarist authorities into the seat of the Military Chief of the Lublin Governorate.
The neighbouring building of the Consistory Palace was owned by the Masonic Lodge “Freedom regained” in the years 1817-1822, and later on functioned as the seat of a criminal court. In 1852 both palaces became the property of the Curia. The whole complex has undergone several renovations and modifications since.
In 1996 a monument was placed in front of the Consistory Palace commemorating the Primate Stefan Wyszyński – Bishop of Lublin in the years 1946-49.
Monument to Józef Czechowicz
The monument is located in Józef Czechowicz Square by Krakowskie Przedmieście, opposite Litewski Square.
The granite structure by Tadeusz Skwarczyński was unveiled on the 30th anniversary of the poet’s tragic death in a German air raid on 9th September 1939.
Czechowicz was a versatile person - a brilliant poet, prose-writer, Lublin bard, editor of children’s magazines ‘Płomyczek’ and ‘Płomyk’, activist for the Polish Teachers’ Association, co-founder of the newspaper ‘Kurier Lubelski’, as well as a zealous patriot and soldier fighting the Polish-Bolshevik war.
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
The Catholic University of Lublin is the oldest higher education institution in the city and the first Catholic university in Eastern Europe. It was established in 1918 on Idzi Radziszewski’s initiative, who later became the first rector. The university was housed in the former monastery of St. Louis Bertrand’s Dominican Order, which during the time of partitions of Poland was converted into army barracks still used until the 1920s. The buildings have remained university property to the present day. In the 1970s a fire destroyed the frontal part of the facilities and they were reconstructed in a more modern style. A new imposing edifice of John Paul II Institute was erected next to the historic buildings at the turn of the 21st c.
John Paul II was chosen as the patron of the university not only for his merits as the Pope but also because of his close connections with Lublin. For many years Karol Wojtyła lectured here and was head of the Ethics Department in the Philosophy Faculty. He gained recognition and became anointed bishop, then archbishop, cardinal, and eventually the Head of the Catholic Church. The monument in the university yard presents John Paul II and Stefan Wyszyński, Primate of Poland, in a symbolic embrace during the inauguration of the pontificate.
In 2007 the Museum of History of John Paul II Catholic University was opened, which presents historical background and academic achievements of the institution. The university is involved in many scientific, cultural and social projects – Leszek Mądzik’s Fine Arts Scene being one of the best-known examples.
Church of the Holy Cross
Situated on the premises of the Catholic University, the Church of the Holy Cross, known as the academic church, was built in the 15th c. Legend has it that one night Henryk, a merchant from Gdańsk, attempted to steal the fragment of the True Cross enshrined in the Dominican church but when he wanted to sneak out of the city the oxen stopped and refused to pull the cart. Terrified, he returned to the church, gave back the stolen relic and founded a wooden church in the place where the miraculous incident happened. Later the church was rebuilt in brick in the Lublin Renaissance style. At the end of the 17th c. the temple belonged to St. Louis Bertrand’s Dominican Order, who also built a monastery nearby. In the 19th c. the monastery was used as an army storehouse and gradually fell into ruin. In the interwar period the whole complex was renovated and adapted for the needs of the newly-established Catholic University of Lublin. Some of the Renaissance features of the exterior of the church were preserved but the interior was radically revamped to resemble early Christian temples.
Soldier’s House
Erected in the years 1924-1928 according to the design by Major of the Polish Army Mieczysław Dobrzański, the building was made with bricks from the demolished Orthodox Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross that once stood in Litewski Square.
The official opening of the Soldier’s House, named after the Marshal Józef Piłsudski, was held in 1933.
After World War II the edifice hosted many various institutions e.g. an operetta theatre and a cinema. Presently it is the seat of the garrison prosecution office, army club and a library.
The Old Gallows
First reports about a wooden gallows located on this site date back to the beginning of the 15th c. Over a century later, it was replaced with a brick gallows on an octagonal plane with a wooden platform with rails.
In the beginning of the 19th c. the structure was covered with a roof and converted into a gunpowder store. When the Saxon Garden opened in Lublin at the end of the 19th c., the building was turned into a gardener’s house.
The Saxon Garden
The idea of creating a city garden by the western border of Lublin came from the Chief City Engineer Feliks Bieczyński. The garden in the English style was probably designed by Vernier, a well-known landscape gardener from Puławy.
Works on an extensive municipal park, named ‘Saxon garden’ after a park in Warsaw, commenced in 1837. In addition to beautiful vegetation, the park featured a fountain, a sundial and a gazebo. Soon the place became a magnet for local residents who enjoyed spending time in this charming, tranquil scenery.
In 1889 a pseudo-Gothic porter’s house was built by the main entrance, which now serves commercial functions.