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view of the old town, Zamek Lubelski (Lublin Castle) and the Castle Tower (Donjon) from Zaułek Władysława Panasa (Władysław Panas's alley)

One of the most charming places in Lublin is Panas's Zaułek (Panas's Alley), a staircase that leads from Po Farze Square toward St. Adalbert's Church located on Podwale Street. The alley was named after the well-known Lublin literary theorist and expert on Jewish culture Professor Władysław Panas in 2006. Above the staircase on the left in place of today's tenements, there used to be a defensive wall leading to Grodzka Gate.

Władysław Ludwik Panas, literature theoretician and historian, was born on 28th March, 1947, in Western Pomerania. He was born in Dębica, in Kołobrzeg poviat. He passed matura exam in 1966 in a High School in Kołobrzeg.

He started studies on Polish Philology in the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań. There, he took part in famous March demonstrations. In March 1968 he took part in students' protest – which led to his arrest by SB (communist Security Service) on the second day. He was sentenced to two years in prison, and later relegated from the university.
Then, he came to continue his studies in Lublin in The Catholic University of Lublin (KUL). His debut was a critical essay on Tadeusz Gajcy's poetry in "Polonista" magazine. In 1972, he completed the faculty of Polish Philology and defended his MA thesis – On the Concept of Language in Bruno Schulz prose.
In the 1970s he cooperated with the underground periodical "Spotkania".
He was editing staff member of "Miesiące" in the period when the "Solidarity" was forming. During the martial law he wrote articles under different pseudos.

The professor was fascinated by vanished world of Lublin Jewish culture. He was inspired by Hasidic Judaism and mistical Kabbalah. He gave a particular contribution to revealing the intriguing history of Grodzka Gate and its multicultural tradition. He saw it as the center of the world and read its magical space, seeing analogies in equal distances from the Grodzka Gate to Po Farze Square and from the Gate to the tzadik's house at Szeroka 28 St.

He died on 24 January, 2005. He was buried on the cemetary at Lipowa St.

Na skrzyżowaniu pod Pocztą Główną, kiedyś, przed laty tramwaje jeździły też na wprost - w ulicę Sienną, do Małego Rynku i Rynku Głównego. Przez dziesięć lat, od 1902 do 1912 roku, były to tramwaje wąskotorowe, od 1913 roku do 27 czerwca 1952 normalnotorowe.

At the intersection under the Main Post Office, once, years ago, trams also ran straight ahead - onto Sienna Street, to Mały Rynek and Rynek Główny. For ten years, from 1902 to 1912, these were narrow-gauge trams, from 1913 to June 27, 1952, standard-gauge trams.

view of Zamek Lubelski (Lublin Castle) from the arcade viaduct on Zamkowa (Castle) Street

The Lublin Castle (Zamek Lubelski) is a medieval castle in Lublin, Poland, adjacent to the Old Town district and close to the city center. It is one of the oldest preserved royal residencies in Poland, initially established by High Duke Casimir II the Just. Its contemporary Gothic Revival appearance is largely due to a reconstruction undertaken in the 19th century.

The hill it is on was first fortified with a wood-reinforced earthen wall in the 12th century. In the first half of the 13th century, the stone keep was built. It still survives and is the tallest building of the castle, as well as the oldest standing building in the city. In the 14th century, during the reign of Casimir III the Great, the castle was rebuilt with stone walls. Probably at the same time, the castle's Chapel of the Holy Trinity was built as a royal chapel.

In the first decades of the 15th century, King Władysław II Jagiełło commissioned a set of frescoes for the chapel. They were completed in 1418 and are preserved to this day. The artist was a Ruthenian, Master Andrej, who signed his work on one of the walls. Because of their unique style, mixing Western and Eastern Orthodox influences, they are acclaimed internationally as an important historical monument.

Under the rule of the Jagiellon dynasty the castle enjoyed royal favor and frequent stays by members of the royal family. The sons of King Casimir IV Jagiellon were brought up in the castle under the tutelage of Jan Długosz. In the 16th century, it was rebuilt on a grandiose scale, under the direction of Italian masters brought from Kraków. The most momentous event in the castle's history was the signing in 1569 of the Union of Lublin, the founding act of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

As a consequence of the wars in the 17th century (The Deluge), the castle fell into disrepair. Only the oldest sections, the keep and the chapel, remained intact. After Lublin fell under Russian rule following the territorial settlement of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the government of Congress Poland, on the initiative of Stanisław Staszic, carried out a complete reconstruction of the castle between 1826 and 1828. The new buildings were in the English neo-Gothic style, completely different from the structures they replaced, and their new purpose was to house a criminal prison. Only the keep and the chapel were preserved in their original state.

The castle was a prison for the next 128 years: as a Tsarist prison from 1831 to 1915, in independent Poland from 1918 to 1939, and most infamously during the Nazi German occupation from 1939 to 1944. Under Tsarist Russia prisoners included Polish resistance members, one of the most notable being writer Bolesław Prus. When between 40,000 and 80,000 inmates, many of them Polish resistance fighters and Jews, passed through. During World War II, the Castle Chapel was the location of a German court. Many prisoners were sent from the castle to concentration camps, including nearby Majdanek. Just before withdrawing on 22 July 1944, the SS and German prison officers massacred over 300 of the remaining prisoners. After 1944, the castle continued as a prison of the Soviet secret police and later of the Soviet-installed communist regime of Poland and, until 1954, about 35,000 Poles fighting against the new communist government (especially cursed soldiers) passed through it, of whom 333 died.

In 1954, the castle prison was closed. Following reconstruction and refurbishment, since 1957 it has been the main site of the National Museum.