5. The Multicultural Trail

green, 13 stops, 2-4 hours

Since its beginnings in the Middle Ages, Lublin has been a multicultural city, mostly due to its favourable location by important trade routes, in the borderland influenced by Eastern and Western Christian traditions. The city welcomed people of various nationalities, religions and cultural background. Among them were Russians, Germans, Jews, Armenians, Turks, Italians, Frenchmen, Scots, Greeks, the Dutch, and the English.

The minority that made a great contribution to Lublin’s culture and architecture was the Italians, who, being of Roman-Catholic denomination, found it easy to assimilate into the Polish society. Many of them were distinguished architects and highly skilled builders. Their legacy is still noticeable in the architectural design and interior décor of many local churches built in the Lublin Renaissance and Baroque style.

The turn of the 18th c. was a prosperous time for the Russian community in Lublin, who had lived here since the Middle Ages. In 1588 the Orthodox Fraternity was established in Lublin and after the Union of Kreva in 1596 – a Uniate parish. Lublin’s population of Orthodox denomination grew significantly after the partitions of Poland when the Lublin Region was included into the Russia-dependent territory (1795-1918). The Uniates, however, found their religious freedoms restricted by the Tsarist authorities.

During the Reformation a small Protestant community formed in Lublin and consequently a few Calvinist churches were built. Protestants started to play a really important role in Lublin's life at the turn of the 20th c. when the city underwent rapid industrial and economic development.

For many centuries the Jewish community was the largest minority in Lublin. Since the 14th c. their settlement in Podzamcze had expanded and become an inherent part of Lublin’s cultural, spiritual and economic life. The Nazi occupation during World War II brought a tragic end to the Jewish presence in Lublin.

The Multicultural Trail will take you to places that are living testimonies of the multicultural character of Lublin, its traditional tolerance and openness to various religions and social concepts deriving from the common European and non- European heritage.