* palace of Lubomirski family from XVIII cent. * main square * town hall, established in 1591 * synagogues: "Small" (XVII cent.), "Big" (XVIII cent., restored 1954-63) * Lancut palace * Podziemia, underground tunnel.

Rzeszów was founded in 1354 by king Casimir III of Poland. For a long time it was just a domain of the noble family of Lubomirski, one of the most important in Poland. Besides having a famous annual market, Rzeszów remained only another city on the trade route to Hungary. In 1658 Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski established the Piarist school, the second secondary school in Poland. During the XIX century Rzeszów began to lose significance in favour of Przemysl. Development of Rzeszów started when in 1937 military industry was located in the city: Panstwowe Zaklady Lotnicze, producing aircraft engines, and a cannon factory – a branch of Hipolit Cegielski factory (see: Central Industrial Area). Until on the outbreak of World War II the Jews of Rzeszów numbered 15,000, more than one-third of the total population. The town was occupied by the German Army on 10 September 1939. German persecution of the Jews began almost immediately, by the end of 1939, there were 10 forced labour camps in the Rzeszów region and many Jews became slave labourers in the region. Jews were forced to live in the Gestapo-controlled ghetto. Many Jews managed to flee to Soviet occupied Poland. By June 1940, the number of Jews in Rzeszów had decreased to 11,800, of whom 7,800 were pre-war residents of the city, the rest were refugees from surrounding villages. Life in the ghetto was impossible and hundreds died. During WWII some 20,000 Jews were murdered in the ghetto in Rzeszów. This number includes thousands who were sent to Rzeszów only to be deported or murdered soon after arrival. Of 15,000 Rzeszów Jews, merely 100 survived the war; in Rzeszów itself, in hiding all over Poland, and in various camps. After the war an additional 600 Rzeszów Jews returned from the Soviet Union. Almost all of them subsequently left the city and the country.