Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva

Built at the hands of Rabbi Meir Shapiro, Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva, (Jesziwat Chachmei Lublin), was an important centre for Torah study in Poland.

History

On May 22–28, 1924, the cornerstone laying ceremony took place for the construction of the yeshiva building. Approximately 20,000 people participated in the event.

The opening ceremony took place on June 24-25, 1930. Apart from thousands of local Jews, around 10,000 people arrived from all over Poland and abroad.

When the Nazis took Lublin during World War II, they stripped the interior and burned the vast library in the town square. After the war, in the autumn of 1945, the property was taken over by the state as a so-called abandoned possession and assigned to the newly established Marie Curie-Skłodowska University. It was used by the Medical University of Lublin.

In 2003 the building was returned to the Jewish community. Its synagogue, the first to be entirely renovated by the Jewish community of Poland since World War II, was reopened on February 11, 2007. Also, under current plans, the first Museum of Hasidism in Europe will be located in the renovated building.