History of Lublin

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 centre (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