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.
