Lefschetz properties through a topological lens

These notes were prepared for the Lefschetz Preparatory School, a graduate summer course held in Krakow, May 6–10, 2024. They present the story of the algebraic Lefschetz properties from their origin in algebraic geometry to some recent developments in commutative algebra. The common thread of the notes is a bias towards topics surrounding the algebraic Lefschetz properties that have a topological flavor. These range from the Hard Lefschetz Theorem for cohomology rings to commutative algebraic analogues of these rings, namely artinian Gorenstein rings, and topologically motivated operations among such rings.