Postcard - Lublin. Royal Castle

Erected on one of Lublin's hills, the castle dominated over the surrounding buildings of the former Jewish quarter. The first mention of Jews settling in Lublin dates to the second half of the 14th century. They occupied the area at the foot of Castle Hill, outside the boundaries of the city within the walls. In time, the district grew, forming a dense network of buildings around the main streets: Szeroka, Podzamcza and Krawiecka. The prospering municipality founded new public buildings: schools, printing houses, hospitals and synagogues.

The wars that took place in the 17th century contributed to the decline of the Jewish quarter. When the castle ruins were converted into a prison in the 1820s, the character of the area changed. Most of its wealthier inhabitants moved to other parts of the city, while the poorer petty traders, porters and craftsmen remained. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, two- or three-storey tenement houses were built along Lubartowska, Szeroka and Cyrulicza Streets. Closer to the castle most of the houses were wooden. There was a lack of sewage systems and so-called ‘nosiwody’ were common. Waste was poured into gutters, which further worsened the hygienic condition of the district. Its main axis was Szeroka Street, stretching from Grodzka Gate to the Jewish Market on Ruska Street. On the ground floors of the tenement houses in Szeroka Street were shops offering various goods. The buildings at Jateczna Street were the poorest. Zamkowa Street, which ran along the castle walls, and Krawiecka Street, which surrounded the hill, were not much better. Lubartowska Street, which housed many small workshops, separated the Jewish quarter from the Christian part of the town until World War II.