Lublin’s royal castle dates from the 12th and 13th centuries, though it's been rebuilt many times over the years. It was here in 1569 that the union with Lithuania was signed. The castle is home to both the Lublin Museum and the surviving Gothic Chapel of the Holy Trinity , which dates from the 14th century. Each requires a separate entry ticket.
The museum's permanent collection features mainly art, folk art and weaponry. The 14th-century chapel is considered a masterpiece of the Middle Ages, with Russian-Byzantine-inspired frescos. Painted in 1418, only to be later plastered over, they were rediscovered in 1897 and painstakingly restored over a 100-year period. These are possibly the finest examples of medieval wall paintings in the country.
During WWII the occupying German army used the castle as a prison, holding as many as 40,000 inmates. The darkest day of the war here came in July 1944, just ahead of the prison’s liberation by the Soviet Red Army, when the Germans executed 300 prisoners on the spot.
