Lublin

Sister cities

• Novi Sad
• Dnipro
• Alcalá de Henares
• Kharkiv
• Nancy
• Lviv
• Vilnius
• Tirana
• Tilburg
• Granada
• Lutsk
• Delmenhorst

History

Archaeological finds indicate a long presence of cultures in the area. A complex of settlements started to develop on the future site of Lublin and in its environs in the sixth to seventh centuries. Remains of settlements dating back to the sixth century were discovered in the centre of today's Lublin on Czwartek ("Thursday") Hill. The early Middle Ages were marked by an intensified settlement of people, particularly in the areas along river valleys. The settlements were centred around the stronghold on Old Town Hill, which was likely one of the main centres of the Lendians, a Lechitic tribe. When the tribal stronghold was destroyed in the 10th century, the centre shifted to the northeast, to a new stronghold above Czechówka valley and, after the mid-12th century, to Castle Hill. At least two churches are presumed to have existed in Lublin in the early medieval period. One of them was most probably erected on Czwartek Hill during the rule of Casimir the Restorer in the 11th century. The castle became the seat of a castellan, first mentioned in historical sources from 1224, but was 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 The oldest historical document mentioning Lublin dates from 1198, so the name must have come into general use some time earlier. From 1326, if not earlier, the stronghold on Castle Hill included a chapel in honor of the Holy Trinity. A stone church dating to 1335–1370 exists to this day. Russian rule ended in 1915, when the city was occupied by German and Austro-Hungarian armies. After the defeat of the Central Powers in 1918, the Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland—the first government of independent Poland—operated in Lublin for a short time. In the interwar years, the city continued to…

Geography

Lublin lies in eastern Poland on the Lublin Upland. The river, a tributary of the Wieprz river, passes through the city and divides it into two parts: western, with a more varied relief with loess gorges, and eastern, which is flat. In the southern part of the city there is an artificial Zemborzyce Lake created by damming Bystrzyca. The area of the city is 147 km2. The highest point lies at a height of and the lowest point at a height of . Lublin has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with cold, damp winters and warm summers.