Museums

Cellar under Fortuna in Lublin

Beneath the Lubomelski townhouse at Rynek 8 in Lublin hides an attraction that transports visitors back to the town's golden age: the Cellar under Fortuna. The townhouse's red façade with a Renaissance portal and attic is one of the most recognisable houses on Lublin's market square, and the cellars hold a rarity on a national scale — secular wall paintings from the 16th century.

Paintings that survived the centuries

The late-Renaissance murals, created after 1596, are a rare Polish example of secular burgher polychromes with emblematic themes — decorations of this kind in burghers' houses have hardly survived anywhere in Poland. They are kept in the historic wine cellar, the most precious of the chambers beneath the townhouse.

A multimedia golden age of Lublin

The exhibition spans 9 rooms with exhibits, visualisations and touch presentations. It presents the events and figures of Lublin's “golden age”: burgher customs, the town's multireligious character and 19th-century industry. The tenth and most important room is the wine cellar itself, with unique 16th-century paintings.

In practice

Until February 2018 the cellars were run by the Lublin Regional Tourist Organisation; they are now cared for by the Lublin Underground Trail of the “Brama Grodzka — Teatr NN” Centre. The site is open all year, daily 11:00 am–7:00 pm; tickets are PLN 10 regular and PLN 8 reduced. Enter from Rynek 8 — the red-fronted townhouse is hard to miss — and fit the visit into a walk around Lublin's Old Town.