2. Heritage trail of the Lublin Jews

blue, 13 stops; distance: 3,5 km; 2-4 hours

For many centuries Lublin was a thriving centre of Hebrew and Yiddish culture. Judaic studies flourished here so much that the city was often referred to as the "Jerusalem of the Polish Kingdom" or even the "Jewish Oxford". The first records of Jews in Lublin come from the second half of the XV century, indicating an existing Jewish community at that time. In the XVI and XVII century Lublin was the seat of the Council of the Four Lands (Va'ad Arba' Aratzot) - a central body of local government for the Jews who inhabited the Kingdom of Poland. It was here where, in the XVIII century, Yaakov Yitzchak HaLevi Horowitz, known as the "Seer of Lublin", one of the co-founders of Polish Hasidic movement, resided and was buried. The international fame of Lublin is credited to Isaac Bashevis Singer, Nobel Prize winner for literature, who, in one of his highly acclaimed novels "The Magician of Lublin", described the life of the Jewish community in the XIX century.

Jewish settlements as well as their political, administrative and religious life concentrated in the areas around the castle and in the Old Town. With time these parts of the city became known as the Jewish District.

As a result of the extermination of the Jewish nation by the Germans during World War II combined with liquidation of all Jewish quarters, much of their heritage was lost. The remaining buildings, cemeteries and synagogues have been preserved to give testimony of the culture, traditions and daily life of the Lublin Jews.