The devil’s paw and the Lublin underground

I leave an article of my fellow EVS David Lorenzo. Talks about one of the most famous stories and mysteries of Lublin

Besides the popular touristic attractions in the city of Lublin, like the castle (Zamek Lublin), the Archicathedral or the concentration camp of Majdanek, there are a non well known (even for Lublin inhabitants) trail through the underground of the Lublin’s Old Town.

If you like the history or if you are a lover of the thrillers, you can’t miss the opportunity to learn with amazing models of the old Lublin and nice performances.

The starting point of this peculiar route is the basement of Crown Tribunal, a sober building from the 14th Century rebuilt several times until the actual Classicist structure, located in the Rynek (the main square) and it ends in the ruined Church of Michael the Archangel. The route will take you through old basements linked in a labyrinth of 280m, used to keep barrels and food.

The Crown Tribunal is the place where happen one of the most amazing legends of Poland, the Devil’s Paw. The history starts long time ago, when a poor lonely widow started a trial for a land that she received by heritage of her husband and a noble rich man (named Kurdwanowski) tried to robed from her. The noble men using his wealthy to persuade the judges won the case, giving the woman a last change in the appeal court. In the appeal verdict the judge invoked God’s name to give the reason to the noble men again, which the widow answer: “Even the devil would have pronounced the fairer verdict”.
That night arrived to the Court a magnificent carriages with elegant gentleman, who entered in the building to examine the widow’s case.

 The tribunal writer saw under the robe two black hooves and noticed that he has horns in the head. Frightened, the officer listened the new verdict claiming the reason to the widow and to reinforce the statement, the devil slammed his hand on the table, burning the document. Before the first cock announce the morning, the noblemen vanished his claim. Finally a fair verdict was announced and Jesus ashamed started to shed tears of blood because this verdict wasn’t claimed under his name but from devil’s.

Nowadays you can visit the table with the devil’s hand in the museum of the Castle of Lublin.
If we continue our route through the underground, we can contemplate the mock-ups of Lublin from VI until XVI centuries and moving mock-up of the big fire in 1719. This mechanical theatre is under the big painting on the Dominicans convent that represents this event.


Don’t miss the opportunity to have an unforgettable experience with the darkness histories of Lublin.

More information in: http://teatrnn.pl/podziemia/node/1 (Web site in Polish)

Thanks David!