Metravel city quest
City Lublin: free walking route “Quest: Old Town” along the sights. 8 points. Approximately 1 h 50 min. Quests and legends - straight from your smartphone.
Some five hundred years ago, here in Lublin, at the crossroads between western and eastern Europe, something happened that redrew the map of the continent: on 1 July 1569, at the Sejm in Lublin Castle, Poland and Lithuania signed a union and became one state — the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Since then, the symbols of the two powers have spread across the coats of arms, pediments and towers of this city.
You will walk through the Old Town as a witness to that union. Each stop has its own trace of the era and its own legend; notice the details I point out — together, they tell one story of a city where two worlds met. We begin at the gate through which the road from Kraków entered Lublin.
The route points in order — what these places are and why they are interesting. Tasks and answers stay inside the quest.
The Kraków Gate was built in the mid-XIV century, under Casimir the Great: after the Tatar raid of 1341, the city was hurriedly enclosed by a stone-and-brick wall, and this gate stood on the road to Kraków, the capital.
Opening hours: Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00; closed Mon; free admission on Thursdays. Last admission 30 minutes before closing
Here is the heart of Lublin — the Market Square, with the Crown Tribunal, the former town hall, at its centre: from the late 1570s, the highest court of appeal for all of Lesser Poland sat here, drawing the nobility from across the region.
Opening hours: Lublin Underground Trail (entrance in the Tribunal building, Rynek 1): scheduled tours — Mon–Fri 14:00 and 16:00 (also 12:00 in July–August); Sat–Sun 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 17:00 (May–October); tickets available online in advance only · Ticket: 35 zł
From the Market Square, turn towards the highest point of the Old Town — the Trinitarian Tower, almost 60 m tall. It was once the bell tower of the Jesuit church; its present neo-Gothic appearance was created in 1819–1827 by the architect Antonio Corazzi — the same man who built the Grand Theatre in Warsaw.
Opening hours: May, June, October: Wed–Fri 10:00–17:30 (break 14:00–14:30), Sat 12:00–19:30, Sun 11:00–18:30; July–September: Tue–Thu 10:00–17:30, Fri 13:00–20:30, Sat–Sun 12:00–19:30; closed Mon · Ticket: standard 20 zł, reduced 15 zł, children under 3 — free
Beside the tower is the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, a former Jesuit church from the turn of the XVI–XVII centuries. It is famous for two wonders.
An optional stop for pleasure, rather than puzzles. The best discoveries on a trip often happen over a cup of coffee.
The broad square with its low limestone walls is not the ruins of a fortress, but the outline of the foundations of Saint Michael the Archangel's parish church, the main parish church of medieval Lublin.
The Grodzka Gate is known as the Jewish Gate: it led from the Christian Old Town into a large Jewish quarter, wiped off the face of the earth during the war. Today, the gate houses the “Brama Grodzka — Teatr NN” centre, which collects and preserves the memory of pre-war Lublin and its residents.
The route brings you to Lublin Castle on the hill above the Old Town — where the union was signed at the Sejm of 1569. The castle's greatest treasure is the Gothic Holy Trinity Chapel: its entire interior is covered in frescoes painted in the Byzantine-Ruthenian style by masters from the east, commissioned by Władysław Jagiełło and completed in 1418.
Opening hours: permanent exhibitions: Tue–Thu and Sun 9:00–18:00, Fri–Sat 9:00–19:00; Holy Trinity Chapel: Mon–Thu and Sun 9:00–18:00, Fri–Sat 9:00–19:00; castle tower: daily 9:00–21:00; Monday — exhibitions closed · Ticket: Holy Trinity Chapel 20/15 zł, castle tower 10/8 zł, permanent exhibitions 20/15 zł, combined ticket (exhibitions + chapel + tower) 40/30 zł (standard/reduced)
This route is part of Metravel city quests. Below are the other quests in this city and cities with quests nearby.