Czestochowa

The next morning, my folks and I headed on a train to Czestochowa. Czestochowa hosts a monastery, and it is officially acknowledged as a place of pilgrimage. Czestochowa holds the Black Madonna. No one knows exactly how old the Black Madonna at the Jasna Gora monastery is. It was painted over in 1430 after being damaged by raiders. The base of the painting is believed to be a table top from the Holy Family. The painting was believed to have saved the monastery from a 17th century invasion by the Swedes. There's an awesome pilgrimage to Czestochowa every year. I saw it go by when I was in Lublin in 2010.

They only unveil the Black Madonna once or twice a day. She has an amazing gold covering that slowly rolls upwards to triumphant fanfare. Below there's a picture of a fraction of the relics left. All the crutches are there probably because people have been cured by the holiness of that statue, right?

The monastery has a great combination of modern and ancient. It's beautiful. Below is one of many murals. It shows Father Popieluszko. He was a Solidarity figure who was murdered and became a martyr for the cause.

There, of course, is the requisite statue of JPII. He came to Czestochowa and spoke. There were tons and tons of people. They have pictures of the masses.

My favorite part of the monastery was the amazing stations of the cross. I've always loved the stations of the cross. Perhaps because classes were shorter on Fridays during Lent because of them. Anyway, these super old and awesome stations stand in what used to be a moat. You can see that below.

I love the detail on the below statue - Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus. It's always been my favorite station.

Below there are some awesome pictures of the Polish kings. I really want a shirt like "Rulers of Bulgaria" for famous Polish royalty. I'm so serious about this that I'm very close to designing it myself!