Chelm

Chelm is a beautiful town in Lublin Voivodeship. It may boast of many interesting monuments and therefore it is an unquestionable attraction for history lovers. Moreover, its location near the borders with Belarus and Ukraine makes the town a perfect starting point to Poland’s eastern neighbours.

Chelm TOURISM

Chelm is an interesting, full of monuments town. While in here you ought to see: the Basilica of the Birth of the Virgin Mary from the 13th century, the Baroque Usciluska Gate from 1616, the palace of Uniates from the first half of the 18th century, the late-baroque church of the Sending of St. Apostoles built in between 1753 and 1763, the Orthodox churches of St. Nicklaus (15th century) and St. John the Evangelist (the 1840s) as well as the Small and Old Synagogues.
While in Chelm you ought to visit Wiktor Ambroziewicz’s Museum of Chelm with numerous archaeological and military collections. The museum has the following exhibitions: historical, archaeological, natural, modern art, ethnographical, as well as traditional art.

Unquestionable advantages of Chelm are cyclical events, like Days of Chelm (held in June), President’s Cup Street Run, the international rock festival Chelmstok and weightlifting champions gala.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chelm is a town and county capital in Lublin Voivodeship, 50 km from the border with Belarus and 25 km from the border with Ukraine. It lies by the Uherka River, the left tributary of the Bug. With the population of 67,546 Chelm is the second biggest town in Lublin Voivodeship (the first is Lublin). The whole population of Chelm agglomeration is approximately 100 thousand.

 

HISTORY

In 981 Chelm was taken by Wladimir the Great and since then until the 14th century it was a part of Kievan Rus’. In between 1378 and 1387 it was a part of Hungary, but already in 1387 was rejoined to Poland. Five years later Chelm was given town rights.

In 1648 the town was burnt by Bogdan Khmelnitsky’s Cossacks. During the partitions of Poland, Chelm often changed nationalities – since 1795 it belonged to Austria, since 1809 to the Duchy of Warsaw and since 1815 to Russia. In November 1918 Chelm was rejoined to Poland and in 1939 water supply and sewerage were built here.

On 8 September 1939 German aircraft raided Chelm and a month later their troops took the town. On 12 January 1940, in mental hospital, the military police shot 440 people dead and in October the same year a Jewish ghetto was established in the town. In July 1944 Soviet troops won a battle with Germans and took Chelm. For a few days the town functioned as an informal capital of Poland. Communist authorities mentioned this town as a place of proclamation of the Manifesto of the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN).

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