"Czestochowa - The Heart of Polish... " a Czestochowa Travel Page by mikelisaanna

Czestochowa (pronounced Chen-sta-hove-a) is a city in Southern Poland that is famous for being the home of the Black Madonna, perhaps the most important religious painting outside of Italy. The Black Madonna, an icon that dates back to at least the 1400s, is a painting of the Virgin Mary that is housed in a small chapel in the Jasna Gora monastery in Czestochowa. Numerous miracles have been attributed to the Black Madonna throughout the centuries.

If you want to understand how religious Polish Catholics are, a visit to Czestochowa is one of the best ways to experience it. The monastery is mobbed with visitors almost every day of the year, especially August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.

The Black Madonna herself is housed in a chapel in which mass is constantly being celebrated during the day. If you do not want to sit through mass in Polish, you can get a view of the painting between masses, but you will have to fight your way through the crowd to do so. Aside from the Black Madonna, the Monastery also features a beautiful main chapel, large defensive fortifications, and large Stations of the Cross around the outside of its walls.