Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland, and the second largest city of Lesser Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship (province) with a population of 349,103 (March 2011). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of the Vistula River. It was recently a candidate for the title of "2016 European Capital of Culture". Lublin is approximately 170 km (105 miles) southeast of the capital, Warsaw. The first permanent settlements on the future site of Lublin were established in the early Middle Ages, though archeological finds indicate a long, earlier presence of cultures in the general area. The earliest, most significant settlement began in the 6th century on a hill in the suburb of Czwartek (in Polish Thursday, most likely in reference to the market day of the settlement). It is likely that the surrounding hills, site of the present day Old Town, were settled at this time. In the 10th and 11th centuries, the Czwartek settlement became an important trade centre. The location of Lublin at the eastern borders of the Polish lands gave it military significance. The first fortification on the site may have been built as early as the 8th century, possibly on the Castle Hill. Certainly at the end of the 10th century a significant fortification existed there. As the castle grew, the Old Town hill adjacent to it became the main focus of settlement, and the Czwartek settlement declined in relative importance. The castle became the seat of a Castellan, first mentioned in historical sources from 1224, but quite possibly present from the start of the 12th or even 10th century. The oldest historical document mentioning Lublin dates from 1198, so the name must have come into general use some time earlier. The city was a target of attacks by Tatars, Ruthenes, Yotvingians, and Lithuanians and was destroyed several times. It received a city charter in 1317. Casimir the Great, appreciating the site's strategic importance, built a masonry castle in 1341 and encircled the city with defensive walls. In 1392, the city received an important trade privilege from king Władysław Jagiełło, and with the coming of the peace between Poland and Lithuania developed into a trade centre, handling a large portion of commerce between the two countries. In 1474 the area around Lublin was carved out of Sandomierz Voivodeship and combined to form the Lublin Voivodeship, the third voivodeship of Lesser Poland. During the 15th century and 16th century the town grew rapidly. The largest trade fairs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were held in Lublin. During the 16th century the noble parliaments (sejm) were held in Lublin several times. On June 26, 1569, one of the most important proclaimed the Union of Lublin, which united Poland and Lithuania. The Lithuanian name for the city is Liublinas. Some of the artists and writers of the 16th century Polish renaissance lived and worked in Lublin, including Sebastian Klonowic and Jan Kochanowski, who died in the city in 1584. In 1578 the Crown Tribunal, the highest court of the Lesser Poland region, was established in Lublin. Since the second half of the 16th century, Protestant Reformation movements devolved in Lublin, and a large congregation of Polish Brethren was present in the city. One of Poland's most important Jewish communities was also established in Lublin around this time. Jews established a widely respected yeshiva, Jewish hospital, synagogue, cemetery, and education center (kahal) and built the Grodzka Gate (known as the Jewish Gate) in the historic district. Jews were a vital part of the city's life until they were destroyed in the Nazi Holocaust. Between 1580 and 1764 the Jewish Council of Four Lands Arba Aracot (Sejm of four countries) was held in Lublin in which approximately seventy delegates from local kahals met to discuss taxation and other issues important to Jewish communities. Students came to Lublin from all over Europe to study at the yeshiva there. The yeshiva became a centre of learning of both Talmud and Kabbalah, leading the city to be called "the Jewish Oxford"; in 1567, the rosh yeshiva (headmaster) received the title of rector from the king along with rights and privileges equal to those of the heads of Polish universities. In the 17th century, the town declined due to a Russo-Ukrainian invasion in 1655 and a Swedish invasion during the Northern Wars. After the third of the Partitions of Poland in 1795 Lublin was located in the Austrian empire, then since 1809 in the Duchy of Warsaw, and then since 1815 in the Congress Poland under Russian rule. At the beginning of the 19th century new squares, streets, and public buildings were built. In 1877 a railway connection to Warsaw and Kovel and Lublin Station were constructed, spurring industrial development.

• published: 17 Aug 2013
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