Some interesting facts:
Due to the union with Lithuania, in the 16th century Lublin was located 200 km from the western border. Now, it is located in eastern Poland, 120 km from the eastern border, without actually moving an inch.
Two important Polish-Lithuanian institutions were located in Lublin since 16th century: the Crown Tribunal acting as the Supreme Court for Eastern and Southern Poland and the Jewish Va'ad Arba' Aratzot The Council of Four Lands.
Lublin and its vicinity developed its unique version of the Renaissance style, called the Lublin Renaissance.
Lublin was the capital of Poland twice, every time just for a few months: first in 1918, at the end of the World War I and then in 1944, at the end of the World War II.
The Jewish population of Lublin in 1939 was 42,380 1/3 of the total city population; in 1945 it was 4,553; in 2007 - 20.
Every year there are ca. 100,000 students coming to Lublin to study, which accounts to 28% of the regular city population.
In brief
The city of Lublin was first mentioned in 13th century. It reached its "golden age" in 16th century, when - due to its central location between Kraków capital of Poland and Vilnius capital of Lithuania - it was chosen as the place where the Union of Lublin was signed, effectively uniting those two states for several centuries. Due to its location at a crossroads between the rest of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, the city was always a melting pot of different cultures - an important center of Judaism as well as of the Christian reformation movement. From 17th century onwards, together with the rest of the country, it suffered a gradual decline. During World War II the Jewish and Polish populations suffered heavy losses, a Nazi concentration camp Majdanek was located here. After the war, the city developed to be an important university site, with 6 state universities and a number of smaller ones.