The building has gained widespread fame in the world of Orthodox Judaism. The Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva at 85 (57) Lubartowska Street was opened in 1930 at the initiative of Rabbi Meir Shapiro (1887-1993), a social activist, one of the leaders of the Agudat Israel (Union of Israel) party, and a Member of Polish Parliament.It was Rabbi Shapiro who put forward two ideas at the First World Congress of Agudat Israel, held in Vienna in 1923. The first of them was the so-called Daf Yomi cycle (Hebrew for “page of the day” or “daily folio”), which is a practice of studying one sheet (two pages) of the Babylonian Talmud on a set schedule every day. At that rate, the completion of the cycle takes 7.5 years. Daf Yomi was accepted and has become increasingly popular in different Jewish circles till today. The other idea Rabbi Shapiro proposed was the establishment of a Talmudic academy, modern in form, yet traditional in content. It was to be located in Lublin on account of the past renown of its yeshivas. The corner stone was laid in May 1924, and the first students were admitted six years later. Meir Shapiro became the first Rosh Yeshiva, or the Head of the Yeshiva, which attracted Orthodox students from around the world. The yeshiva library included tens of thousands of volumes.The building was taken over by the German occupation forces in September 1939, and a gendarmerie post as well as a field hospital were established there. The furnishings of the yeshiva and its synagogue were destroyed. The building was taken over by the Medical University after the war.A group of students of the Lublin Yeshiva, along with students of other yeshivas, managed to reach Shanghai in China, through the Soviet Union and Japan, thus surviving the Holocaust thanks to visas issued by Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese Vice-Consul in Kaunas, Lithuania. Most of them moved to Israel or the USA after the war. This story has been described by David Mandelbaum in his From Lublin to Shanghai (2012).In 2003, the building was handed over to the Warsaw Jewish Community, of which the Lublin Community is a branch. Most of the building is now occupied by the Ilan Hotel, but it also houses the offices of the Lublin branch of the Jewish Community. The renovated synagogue and the mikveh are accessible to visitors and pilgrims, and so is an exhibition on the history of the building and Meir Shapiro. You can stop here for a cup of coffee at the hotel bar. The hotel also features the only certified kosher restaurant in Lublin.The keys to the gates of the Lublin Jewish cemeteries, the oldest one on Kalinowszczyzna Street and the new one on Walecznych Street, can be taken out at the reception of the hotel.