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Chełm is a city of the borderland where, beginning from the Middle Ages, Orthodox, Catholic, Jewish, Protestants and Greek Catholic communities lived together. Today, it is the capital of the powiat with a population of 70 thousand, located 25 km from the Ukrainian border.
I traditionally start the tour of Chełm from the Chełm Mountain, which the city residents tend to call “Górka” (the “Hill”). On the mountain, there is the late Baroque Basilica of the Birth of the Virgin Mary, which belonged in turn to the Uniat, Orthodox and Catholic communities.
From the Hill you can see a picturesque view of the Old Town square, the old route comprising Lubelska street, the Church of Apostles the Messengers with beautiful murals, a reconstructed wooden well.
I walk down and find the building which on 22 July 1944 was the headquarters of the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN) and went down in the history of the Polish People's Republic as a symbol of communism. In fact, PKWN and the PWKN Manifesto were created in Moscow.
Luckily, tourists associate Chełm mainly with chalk.
The city lies on unique chalk grounds (the amount of chalk in the ground reaches 99%).
Already in the 16th century, the townsmen understood that the chalk was a treasure: they sold it and got rich. They excavated it in the easiest way possible. In the house cellars they bored individual excavations which, when connected, created an underground maze under the Old Town. The chalk dungeons were used by the residents as shelters during wars, attacks and plunders. In the 19th century, for safety reasons, the authorities prohibited further excavation of chalk.
I am inside the only underground chalk mine in Europe. I am walking along an illuminated route, and before me spreads 2-kilometre network of tunnels and chambers located at different levels. I am glad to be wearing a warm jacket (constant temperature of 9 C) and comfortable trainers. It would be difficult to walk on the chalk curves on high heels. A pram or a wheelchair will definitely not get here. What a pity!
Suddenly, 13 meters under the ground level, appears Bieluch, a ghost dressed in white robes who gives me a piece of chalk. I think about my own school and its chalkboards, and the beautiful memories of school life prove to be more powerful here in Chełm than anywhere else.
www.chelm.pl /English, Deutsch, Français/
