Yasnogorsk monastery. Yasnogorsk Monastery (Jasnaya Gora). Pilgrimage trips to the Jasna Gora Monastery

Częstochowa(Polish: Częstochowa) is a city in southern Poland in Upper Silesia, in the Silesian Voivodeship, on the Warta River. Founded in the 11th century, it received city status in 1370–1377. Population 248,032 people (2004). The city is famous for the miraculous Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God, kept in the Jasnogorsk Monastery.

Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God- a miraculous icon of the Mother of God, one of the most famous and revered shrines in Poland and central Europe. Due to her dark complexion, she is also known as the "Black Madonna". The Częstochowa Icon is made on a wooden panel measuring 122.2x82.2x3.5 cm and belongs to the Hodegetria type. The Child-Christ sits in the arms of the Mother of God, with His right hand He blesses, and with His left He holds a book. There are several cuts left on the icon, possibly caused by a saber blow.

According to legend, the Czestochowa Icon refers to the icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which were painted by the Apostle Luke. In 326, when Saint Helena visited Jerusalem, she, according to legend, received this icon as a gift and brought it to Constantinople. According to art historians, the icon was created in Byzantium in the 9th–11th centuries. The history of the icon can be reliably traced from the end of the 13th century, when the Galician-Volyn prince Lev Danilovich transported the icon to the city of Belz, where it became famous for its numerous miracles. After Poland conquered Western Russian lands, the Polish prince Władysław of Opolski in 1382 moved the icon to Jasna Gora, near Częstochowa, to the newly built Pauline monastery. From this time on, the icon received its current name. At the beginning of the 15th century, the Hussites attacked the monastery and plundered it, but the miraculous image was miraculously saved. According to one version, two scars on the icon were left from blows from Hussite sabers. In 1655, the Swedes unsuccessfully besieged Jasna Gora. The heroic defense of the monastery and the salvation of the shrine caused a great patriotic upsurge in the country, which led to the expulsion of the Swedes from Poland. These events are colorfully described on the pages of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel “The Flood”.

On April 1, 1656, King Jan Casimir proclaimed Our Lady of Czestochowa the patroness of Poland in Lviv. In 1716, the monks of the monastery submitted a petition to Rome to have the image crowned. In 1717, after receiving approval from Pope Clement XI, the icon was crowned in the presence of 200,000 pilgrims. The placing of crowns on the heads of the Child and the Mother of God symbolized the special importance of the icon and its miraculous power. In 1813, the monastery was taken by Russian troops, the abbot of Yasnaya Gora presented the Russian military leaders with a copy of the icon, which was then kept in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg and was lost after 1917. The icon is revered by both Catholics and Orthodox Christians. In Poland, the icon is considered the main shrine of the country. The feast of the icon is celebrated by Catholics on August 26, by Orthodox on March 6 according to the Julian calendar (19th Gregorian). In Poland, large-scale pilgrimages to the icon are traditionally held, especially dedicated to the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (August 15), in which Catholics from many countries take part. Believing Polish peasants, according to an old tradition, give free shelter to pilgrims to the Czestochowa Icon.

The Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God is located in Yasnogorsk Monastery. Its full name is the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Jasnogorsk (Polish: Sanktuarium Najświętszej Maryi Panny Jasnogorskie). The monastery belongs to the monastic order of the Paulines, invited in 1382 by the Polish prince Władysław of Opolski to Poland from Hungary. The monks founded a monastery on a hill near the city of Częstochowa. The new monastery received the name “Yasnaya Gora” in honor of the main church of the order at that time - the Church of St. Lawrence on Jasna Gora in Buda. Information about the transfer of the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary to the monastery is contained in the ancient manuscript “Translatio Tabulae”, a copy of which, dating back to 1474, is kept in the monastery archive. From the moment of its foundation, the monastery became known as the place where the relic was kept; pilgrimages to the icon began already in the 15th century, and a new cathedral was built at the same time. At the beginning of the 17th century, to protect against attacks, the monastery was surrounded by powerful walls, which turned Jasna Gora into a fortress. After the defeat of the Bar Confederation in 1772, the last Polish king, Stanislaw Poniatowski, ordered the monastery to be surrendered to Russian troops. The second time the monastery was occupied by the Russian army in 1813, then the fortress walls of Jasna Gora were destroyed, however, in 1843 Nicholas I ordered their restoration. The walls were built, however, in a slightly different configuration than before.

Entrance to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross

and Nativity of the Virgin Mary

During the Second World War, the monastery was occupied by the Nazis and pilgrimages were prohibited. On January 16, 1945, a surprise attack by Soviet tanks on Częstochowa led to the Nazis abandoning the monastery without harming it. After the war, Jasna Gora continued to be the spiritual center of the country.

The Yasnogorsk monastery is located on a hill 293 m high. The territory of the monastery covers an area of 5 hectares. The monastery buildings are surrounded on three sides by a park, while on the fourth side there is a large square leading to them, which on major holidays is completely filled with pilgrims. The monastery has a quadrangular shape, in the corners there are powerful arrow-shaped bastions: the Morshtynov bastion; Bastion of St. Barbara (or Lubomirsky bastion); royal bastion (or Potocki bastion); Bastion of the Holy Trinity (Shanyavsky Bastion).

106 meter Bell tower, dominating the city of Częstochowa and visible from 10 km away, was built in 1714 in the Baroque style. It suffered from fires several times, and in 1906 it was reconstructed and built on. The bell tower consists of 5 levels. At the height of the second level on the outer side there are four clock dials. Every 15 minutes, 36 bells play the melody of a hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The interior of the third level is decorated with 4 statues of saints. There are 516 steps leading to the upper, fifth level. There are four statues of the Doctors of the Church. On the spire of the tower there is a statue of a raven with a piece of bread in its mouth (symbol of the Pauline Order) and a monogram of the Blessed Virgin. The spire is crowned with a cross.

Cathedral Interior

The heart of the Yasnogorsk monastery is Chapel, which houses the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God. The original chapel was built before the beginning of the 17th century; in 1644 it was rebuilt into a three-nave chapel (now the presbytery). The icon was placed on an ebony and silver altar donated to the monastery by the Great Chancellor Ossolinsky in 1650 and still remains in the same place. The silver panel protecting the icon dates back to 1673. In 1929, another part was added to the chapel. The chapel has 5 altars, its walls are covered with votive gifts. The remains of Augustin Kordetsky, the abbot who led the defense of the monastery from the Swedes, are buried in the left wall.

Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Nativity of the Virgin Mary, adjacent to the chapel of the miraculous icon, the oldest building of the monastery, its construction began at the beginning of the 15th century. Currently, the cathedral is 46 m long, 21 m wide and 29 m high. In 1690, a large fire practically destroyed the interior of the temple. In 1692–1695, restoration work was carried out. Several more restorations were carried out in 1706 and 1728. The three-nave cathedral is one of the best examples of Baroque in Poland. The vaults of the presbytery and the main nave were designed by Karl Danquart in 1695. The main altar by Giacomo Buzzini was made in 1728. Among the numerous side chapels, the chapel of St. Paul of Thebes, Holy Heart of Jesus, St. Anthony of Padua.

Sacristy(sacristy), built in 1651, is located between the cathedral and the chapel of the Virgin Mary and forms one complex with them. The vault of the sacristy, like the cathedral, was painted by Karl Danquart; the wall paintings also date back to the 17th century.

The monastery has extensive library. Among the unique library copies are 8,000 ancient printed books, as well as a large number of manuscripts. Many of them formed the core of the so-called Jagiellonian collection, which at one time was bequeathed to the monastery. The new library building was built in 1739. The ceiling of the library is richly decorated with frescoes by an unknown Italian master. Since 1920, the Jasna Góra Library has been used for conferences of the Polish Catholic episcopate.

Knights' Hall located along the southern facade of the monastery behind the Chapel of the Virgin Mary. It was built in 1647 in the Renaissance style. The walls of the hall were painted in the 17th century by Polish masters and represent the most significant events in the history of the monastery. At the far end of the hall there is an altar of St. John the Evangelist, 18th century work. Meetings, episcopate meetings, theological and philosophical conferences are held in the Knights' Hall.

The complex of monastery buildings also includes living quarters for the monks, the Arsenal, the Museum of the 600th Anniversary of the Monastery, the Royal Apartments, the Meeting Hall, etc.

On one side of the handle of a metal bell purchased in Czestochowa, the silhouette of the monastery is depicted, on the other - the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God. The bell can be seen in the subsection “Temples, Cathedrals”.

Based on Wikipedia materials

Monastery

Jasna GoraCzestochowa Icon of the Mother of God Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Jasna Gora in 2006

Jasna Gora, Jasna Gora (Polish: Jasna Gora) is a Catholic monastery in the Polish city of Czestochowa. The full name is the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Jasnogorsk (Polish: Sanktuarium Najswietszej Maryi Panny Jasnogorskie). The monastery belongs to the monastic order of the Paulines. The Jasnogorsk Monastery is famous for the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God kept here, revered as the greatest shrine by Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Jasna Gora is the main site of religious pilgrimage in Poland, as well as a symbol of national unity of the Polish nation. Historical monument.

Story

In 1382, the Polish prince Władysław of Opolski invited monks of the Pauline Order to Poland from Hungary, who founded a monastery on a hill near the city of Czestochowa. The new monastery received the name “Yasnaya Gora” in honor of the main church of the order at that time - the Church of St. Lawrence on Jasna Gora in Buda. Vladislav Opolsky transferred the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary from the city of Belz (modern Ukraine) to Yasnaya Gora. Information about this event is contained in the ancient manuscript “Translatio Tabulae”, a copy of which, dating from 1474, is kept in the monastery archive. Since its founding, the monastery has become known as a place where the relic is kept; pilgrimages to the icon began already in the 15th century.

On Easter April 14, 1430, the monastery was attacked by a band of Hussite robbers from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. They plundered the monastery, broke the icon into three parts and dealt several saber blows to the face. The restoration of the image took place in Krakow at the court of King Władysław Jagiello. Imperfect restoration techniques led to the fact that, although the icon was able to be put back together, the scars from saber strikes on the face of the Virgin Mary still showed through the fresh paint. In 1466, the monastery survived another siege by the Czech army.

Ya. Sukhodolski. Defense of Jasna Gora in 1655

In the 15th century, a new cathedral was built in the monastery. At the beginning of the 17th century, to protect against attacks, the monastery was surrounded by powerful walls, which turned Jasna Gora into a fortress. Very soon the fortifications of the monastery were subjected to a severe test of strength during the so-called “flood”, the Swedish invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1655. The Swedish offensive developed rapidly, and within a few months Poznan, Warsaw and Krakow were taken; the Polish gentry en masse went over to the side of the enemy; King Jan Casimir fled the country. On November 18 of the same year, the Swedish army under the command of General Miller approached the walls of Jasnaya Gora. Despite the multiple superiority of the Swedes in manpower (the Swedes were about 3 thousand against 170 soldiers, 20 nobles and 70 monks in the monastery), abbot Augustin Kordetsky decided to fight. The heroic defense of the monastery forced the invaders to retreat and served as an example for the whole country, leading to the expulsion of the Swedes, which was regarded by many in Poland as a miracle of the Virgin Mary. King Jan Casimir, who returned from exile, solemnly chose the Virgin Mary as the patroness of the kingdom during the “Lvov vows”.

The monastery had to endure several more attacks during the Northern War, in 1702, 1704 and 1705, but they were also repelled. In 1716, the monks of the monastery submitted a petition to Rome to have the image crowned. In 1717, after receiving approval from Pope Clement XI, the icon was crowned in the presence of 200,000 pilgrims. The placing of crowns on the heads of the Child and the Mother of God symbolized the special importance of the icon and its miraculous power.

After the defeat of the Bar Confederation in 1772, the last Polish king, Stanislaw Poniatowski, ordered the monastery to be surrendered to Russian troops. The second time the monastery was occupied by the Russian army in 1813 during the Napoleonic wars, the abbot of Jasnaya Gora presented the Russian military leaders with a copy of the icon, which was then kept in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, and after the closure of the cathedral in 1932, it was transferred to the State Museum of the History of Religion for storage. The Russian army destroyed the fortress walls of Jasnaya Gora, however, in 1843, Nicholas I ordered their restoration. The walls were built, however, in a slightly different configuration than before.

In conditions when Poland was divided between other states, the Jasnogorsk monastery and the icon stored in it were important symbols of the unity of the nation, so the Częstochowa image was depicted on the banners of the participants in the Polish uprising of 1863. After the suppression of the uprising, some of the Pauline monks were accused of supporting the rebels and deported to Siberia.

During the Second World War, the monastery was occupied by the Nazis, pilgrimages were prohibited, and the monks were under Gestapo surveillance. The icon was replaced with a copy, and the original was hidden under one of the tables in the monastery library. The German authorities tried to use the monastery for their propaganda, in particular, Governor Hans Frank visited Jasna Gora twice. On January 16, 1945, a surprise attack by Soviet tanks on Częstochowa (Khokhryakov’s battalion from the 54th Guards Tank Brigade) led to the Nazis leaving the monastery without causing harm.

According to Boris Polevoy, before leaving, the monastery was mined:

We left the temple. The snow stopped completely, and the moon, shining in full force, flooded the entire courtyard. In its violet light, the plump white pillows that covered the branches, the walls of the temple, and a stack of pot-bellied mines on the leeward side stood out especially beautifully. Sergeant Korolkov sat on this stack and smoked, and his monastic team crowded around, resembling a flock of rooks. When he saw us, he jumped up and saluted wildly. The monks also suddenly stood up. It immediately became clear that it was not for nothing that he spent time with them. “Allow me to report, the demining has been completed.” Thirty-six aerial bombs have been removed and discharged. Two fuses were found: one shock - a trap in a hole, the other, chemical, with a distance of ten days. Here they are. - He pointed to two instruments lying aside on the board.
Boris Polevoy - “896 kilometers to Berlin”, memoirs

After the war, Jasna Gora continued to be the spiritual center of the country. In September 1956, on the tercentenary of Jan Casimir’s “Lviv vows,” about a million believers prayed here for the release of the primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, who had been imprisoned by the communist authorities. The cardinal's release took place a month after this.

In August 1991, the Catholic World Youth Day was held in Częstochowa, in which Pope John Paul II took part, and during which more than a million people made a pilgrimage to the icon, including a significant number of young people from the USSR, which became one of the brightest evidence of the fall of the Iron Curtain.

The monastery has its own FM radio station, Radio Jasna Gora, which also broadcasts on the Internet.

Territory and buildings

The Yasnogorsk Monastery is located on a hill 293 meters high. The monastery's 106-meter bell tower dominates the city of Czestochowa and is visible from approximately 10 kilometers from the monastery. The territory of the monastery covers an area of 5 hectares. The monastery buildings are surrounded on three sides by a park, while on the fourth side there is a large square leading to them, which on major holidays is completely filled with pilgrims.

Plan of Jasna Gora: A - Lubomirski Gate; B - Gate of Our Lady Queen of Poland; C - Gate of Our Lady of Sorrows; D - Shaft Gate (Jagiellonian); E - Mary's Hall; F - Royal Bastion, (Pototsky); G - Monument to Augustin Kordetsky; H - Treasury, I - Altar on the canopy; J - Bastion of St. Trinity (Shanyavsky); K - Monument to John Paul II, L - Morsztyn Bastion; M - Gate of John Paul II (entrance); N - Bastion of St. Varvara (Lyubomirsky); O - House of Musicians; P - Vechernik; R - Garden; S - Yablonovsky Church (Chapel of the Heart of Jesus); T - Denhoff Church (Church of St. Paul the First Hermit); U - Entrance to the tower; V - Church of St. Antonia; W - Royal chambers; X - Basilica; Y - Sacristy; Z - Church of the Moscow Church of Częstochowa; a - Knight's Hall; b - Monastery garden; c - Refectory and library, d, e - Monastery; f - Well; g - 600th Anniversary Museum; h - Arsenal, i - Utility yard; j - Main courtyard; k - Monument card. Stefan Wyszyński

Fortifications

The monastery has a quadrangular shape, with powerful arrow-shaped bastions located in the corners. The bastions are named:

bastion Morshtynov bastion of St. Barbara (or Lubomirski bastion) royal bastion (or Potocki bastion) Holy Trinity bastion (Shanyavski bastion)

Bell tower

Bell tower Cathedral Votive objects on the walls of the Chapel of the Virgin Mary Knights' Hall Pilgrims to the monastery on the Feast of the Assumption (2005)

The high 106-meter bell tower was built in 1714 in the Baroque style. It suffered from fires several times, and in 1906 it was reconstructed and built on.

The bell tower consists of 5 levels. At the height of the second level, there are four clock dials on the outside, on each side of the tower. Every 15 minutes, 36 bells play the melody of a hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The interior of the third level is decorated with 4 statues - St. Paul of Thebes, St. Floriana, St. Casimir and St. Jadwiga. There are 516 steps leading to the upper, fifth level. There are four statues of the Doctors of the Church - St. Albert the Great, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Augustine and St. Ambrose of Milan. On the spire of the tower there is a statue of a raven with a piece of bread in its mouth (symbol of the Pauline Order) and a monogram of the Blessed Virgin. The spire is crowned with a cross, which is brightly illuminated at night.

Chapel of the Virgin Mary

The chapel in which the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God is kept is the heart of the monastery. The original chapel was built before the beginning of the 17th century; in 1644 it was rebuilt into a three-nave chapel (now the presbytery). The icon was placed on an ebony and silver altar donated to the monastery by the Great Chancellor Ossolinsky in 1650 and remains in the same place to this day. The silver panel protecting the icon dates back to 1673.

In 1929, another part was added to the chapel. The chapel has 5 altars, its walls are covered with votive gifts. The remains of Augustin Kordetsky, the abbot who led the defense of the monastery from the Swedes, are buried in the left wall.

Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Nativity of the Virgin Mary

The cathedral, adjacent to the chapel of the miraculous icon, is the oldest building of the monastery; its construction began at the beginning of the 15th century. Currently, the cathedral is 46 meters long, 21 meters wide and 29 meters high.

In 1690, a large fire practically destroyed the interior of the temple. In 1692-1695, restoration work was carried out. Several more restorations were carried out in 1706 and 1728.

The three-nave cathedral is one of the best examples of Baroque in Poland. The vaults of the presbytery and the main nave were designed by Karl Danquart in 1695. The main altar by Giacomo Buzzini was made in 1728. Among the numerous side chapels, the chapel of St. Paul of Thebes, St. Heart of Jesus, St. Anthony of Padua.

Sacristy

The sacristy (sacristy) is located between the cathedral and the chapel of the Virgin Mary and forms one complex with them. It was built in 1651, its length is 19 meters, width is 10 meters. The vault of the sacristy, like the cathedral, was painted by Karl Danquart; the wall paintings also date back to the 17th century.

Library

The monastery has an extensive library. Among the unique library copies are 8,000 ancient printed books, as well as a large number of manuscripts. Many of them formed the core of the so-called Jagiellonian collection, which at one time was bequeathed to the monastery.

The new library building was built in 1739. The ceiling of the library is richly decorated with frescoes by an unknown Italian master. Since 1920, the Jasna Góra Library has been used for conferences of the Polish Catholic episcopate.

Knights' Hall

The Knights' Hall is located along the southern facade of the monastery behind the Chapel of the Virgin Mary. It was built in 1647 in the Renaissance style. The walls of the hall were painted in the 17th century by Polish masters and represent the most significant events in the history of the monastery. At the far end of the hall there is an altar of St. John the Evangelist, 18th century work.

Meetings, episcopate meetings, theological and philosophical conferences are held in the Knights' Hall.

Others

The complex of monastery buildings also includes living quarters for the monks, an arsenal, a museum of the 600th anniversary of the monastery, royal chambers, a meeting room, etc.

Pilgrimages

The train arrived in Częstochowa early in the morning. It was a long way from the station to the monastery, which stood on a high green hill.
The pilgrims—Polish peasants and peasant women—came out of the carriage. Among them were city dwellers in dusty bowlers. The old, corpulent priest and the clergy boys in lace robes were waiting for the pilgrims at the station.

Right there, near the station, a procession of pilgrims lined up on the dusty road. The priest blessed her and muttered a prayer through her nose. The crowd fell to their knees and crawled towards the monastery, chanting psalms.

The crowd crawled on its knees all the way to the monastery cathedral. A gray-haired woman with a white, frantic face crawled ahead. She was holding a black wooden crucifix in her hands.

The priest walked slowly and indifferently in front of this crowd. It was hot, dusty, sweat was rolling down our faces. People breathed hoarsely, looking back angrily at those lagging behind.

I grabbed my grandmother’s hand. “Why is this?” I asked in a whisper.

“Don’t be afraid,” the grandmother answered in Polish. - They are sinners. They want to beg forgiveness from God.
Konstantin Paustovsky - Book about life. Distant years

Pilgrimages to the Yasnogorsk Monastery have been held since the 15th century. As a rule, organized groups of pilgrims gather in cities neighboring Czestochowa and then go to Jasna Gora on foot. According to a long-standing pious tradition, residents of those settlements through which pilgrims pass provide shelter and food to those in need.

There are especially large numbers of pilgrims on holidays dedicated to the Mother of God, especially on the day of the Assumption (August 15). In recent years, the number of pilgrims flocking to Czestochowa on this day exceeds 200 thousand people.

Monastery in literature

The defense of the Yasnogorsk monastery from the Swedes in 1655 is described on the pages of G. Sienkiewicz’s historical novel The Flood. Boris Polevoy’s memoirs “896 kilometers to Berlin” describe the demining of the monastery and icon

It starts in Krakow and ends in Częstochowa. This is a large industrial city with a population of 250 thousand and a metallurgical plant, purposely built here during the time of Bierut. The first mention of a settlement in these areas dates back to 1220, but Czestochowa received the status of a city only in the 70s of the 14th century during the reign of Casimir the Great. After the partitions of Poland, the city found itself within the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and from 1815 to 1915 it was included in the Kingdom of Poland. This is probably why Częstochowa somehow subtly resembles our regional cities.

In the center of the city, on a high hill, stands the main Polish shrine. For her sake, hundreds of thousands of people from all over Poland come here (they come!). During the traditional August pilgrimage on the day of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, about 200 thousand people gather here. In 1991, when Pope John Paul II visited here, more than a million pilgrims came to Czestochowa.
This shrine is the monastery of the Pauline Order of Jasna Góra.

We arrived in Jasna Gora in the evening. There was her behind. We parked the car in a paid parking lot near the monastery and headed inside, passing through a series of gates standing one after another. The first of them are named after the noble family of magnates, the Lyubomirskys.

The next gate is named after Our Lady Queen of Poland. They are crowned with a sculptural image of the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God.

The third is the gate of the Virgin Mary of Sorrows, and the fourth is called Jagiellonian - in honor of the famous Polish royal dynasty.
Having passed the gate, you find yourself in the main courtyard of the monastery. It is small in size. Numerous chapels of the church overlook it. To make it easier to navigate the rather confusing monastery ensemble, I will provide a diagram from Wiki.

A	Brama Lyubomirsky
B	Brahma of Our Lady Queen of Poland
C	Brahma of Our Lady of Sorrows
D	Gate of Jagiellonska
E	Hall of the Virgin Mary
F	Royal Bastion (Pototsky Bastion)
G	monument to Augustin Kordetsky
H	Treasury
I	Altar in front of the Shield
J	Bastion of the Holy Trinity (Shanyavsky Bastion)
K	Monument to John Paul II
L	Bastion Morsztynow
M	Gate of John Paul II (entrance gate)
N	Bastion of St. Barbara (Bastion of the Lubomirskis)
O	Musicians' houses
P	Cenacle (Feast Hall)
R	Garden of Relaxation
S	Yablonovsky Chapel (Chapel of the Heart of Jesus)
T	Dennhof Chapel (Chapel of Paul I the Hermit)
U	Entrance to the tower
V	Chapel of St. Antonia
W	Royal chambers
X	Basilica
Y	Sacristy
Z	Chapel of Our Lady of Czestochowa
a	Knights' Hall
b	Monastery Garden
c	Refectory and library
d, e	Monastery
f	Well
g	600th Anniversary Museum
h	Arsenal
i	Utility yard
j	Main courtyard
k	Monument to Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński

So, in order from left to right there are: the entrance to the tower, designed in the form of a chapel and decorated with a sundial; in the middle stands the Dennhof Chapel, consecrated in the name of St. Paul the Hermit, and the one on the far right is the Yablonovsky chapel in the name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Through the arch you can go to the entrance to the bell tower. The 106-meter tower literally soars into the sky. There are 519 steps leading up to it. The bell tower was built in 1714 in the Baroque style. In 1906, after reconstruction, the graceful, slender tower reached its current height. There is also a clock with a carillon of 36 bells that plays a hymn to the Virgin Mary every quarter of an hour. On the spire of the tower there is a statue of a raven with a piece of bread in its beak - a symbol of the Pauline Order. I couldn’t see it :)

Jasna Góra is home to the most important shrine in Poland – the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God. Based on the color of her face, she is often called the “Black Madonna.” According to legend, the image was painted by the Evangelist Luke himself. His brushes include approximately 70 icons of the Mother of God. Particularly famous and revered are those painted by Luke on the tabletop at which the Holy Family ate. One of these icons is located in Moscow - this is the miraculous one.
Evangelist Luke painted the Częstochowa Icon of the Virgin Mary in the Upper Room of Zion. In 66-67, during the invasion of the Romans under the leadership of Vespasian and Titus, Christians hid the icon along with other shrines in caves near Pella. Almost 300 years later, in 326, Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, received the icon as a gift from Jerusalem Christians when she went to worship holy places and found the Cross of the Lord. Since then, for 500 years, the icon has been in Constantinople.

Prince Lev of Galicia-Volyn, son of Daniil of Galicia, with the greatest respect transferred the icon to Chervona Rus (Western Ukraine) to Belz Castle. But this is far from the only explanation for the appearance of the icon in the Slavic lands. One of the ancient legends says that the Slavic enlighteners, Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius, brought the icon with them. There is also a mention that the Greek princess Anna was blessed for her marriage with Prince Vladimir in the image of the Virgin Mary.

The icon became famous for many miracles. One of them happened during the Tatar-Mongol invasion. The inhabitants of Belz, trusting in heavenly intercession, transferred the icon to the fortress wall. One of the Tatar arrows pierced the face of the Queen of Heaven and blood flowed from the wound. The Tatars became gloomy, they began to kill each other, the rest fled in horror from under the city walls.

When the line of the Galician princes was interrupted and Chervonaia Rus came under Polish rule, the Belz castle went to Prince Vladislav Opolsky. In 1382, Prince Władysław took the icon to the west and along the way stopped in the village of Częstochowa, placing the icon overnight in the village church. However, in the morning, when the prince wanted to set off, the icon turned out to be impossible to move. People believed that the Virgin Mary was indicating the place where the image should be left. Władysław donated the icon, church and land to the Pauline monks who settled in Częstochowa. The prince himself settled nearby in.
In 1430, a detachment of Czech, Moravian and Silesian Protestants captured and plundered the monastery. According to one version, they tried to cut the image with sabers, but the blasphemer, who hit the icon twice, swung it a third time and fell dead. According to another version, the Hussites managed to plunder the monastery treasures. One of them decided to seize the icon. However, the horses were unable to move the cart with the loot. In anger, one of the robbers threw the icon off the cart, and the other hit it with a sword. At that same moment, heavenly punishment overtook them: the first was torn into pieces, the second’s hand withered, the others were struck with blindness. Since then, scars have remained on the cheek of the Virgin Mary. They are also visible on the later list of the icon.

The shrine is located in the chapel of the Miraculous Image of the Virgin Mary, located north of the cathedral. The modest chapel from the time of Władysław Opolski was rebuilt several times until it was turned into a majestic temple. The Częstochowa Icon itself is placed on an altar made of silver and ebony, donated by the Great Chancellor Ossolinski in 1650. The special silver curtain used to cover the icon at night was created in 1673.

There were a lot of people around the icon. And this is in the evening of a regular weekday! I photographed the icon from afar - I didn’t want to disturb the worshipers who came to touch the shrine. However, photography is allowed inside the chapel itself. In the photo, the icon is visible as a shining spot; at the entrance, there are electric signs with a ban on the use of flash. If in Orthodox churches it is customary to venerate icons and relics, here veneration of the shrine is expressed differently. The icon is placed at a height of 3 meters. There is a circular passage under the altar, along which believers walk around the icon on their knees.

The prior (abbot) of Jasna Góra, Augustin Kordecki, is buried in the crypt of the chapel of the Miraculous Image of the Virgin Mary.

A few words should be said about this man, who is revered in Poland as a national hero. Clemens - this is his secular name - was born in 1603 into a family of wealthy and influential townspeople. His father was burgomaster for some time. Clemens studied well from childhood and graduated from the Jesuit college in Poznan in 1633. He took monastic vows in the Pauline Order and received the monastic name Augustine. He spent 40 years, until his death, in the bosom of the order. His main merit was the defense of Jasna Góra during the “flood”, as Henryk Sienkiewicz called the Swedish invasion of the mid-17th century. The goal of Augustin Kordecki was to preserve the shrines of Jasna Góra from plunder and devastation by Swedish troops. First, he hides the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa and replaces it with a list. Then Kordetsky writes a message to the Swedish king Carl X Gustav that he agrees to surrender the Jasnogóra fortress in exchange for guarantees of the integrity of the shrine. Augustine did not receive these guarantees and decided to defend Yasna Guru by force of arms. Augustin Kordecki commanded the defense throughout the siege, which lasted from November 18 to December 26, 1655. Historians believe that Kordetsky sent a letter to the king in order to gain time and prepare for defense. The Poles managed to defend the Jasnogóra Monastery, despite the more than tenfold superiority of the Swedes. There were 3 thousand soldiers in the army of the Swedish general Miller, and the monastery was defended by 170 soldiers, 20 nobles and 70 monks. The Swedes retreated, after which King Jan Casimir returned to the country. The siege of Jasna Góra changed the course of the war and ultimately led to the expulsion of the Swedish conquerors from Poland.

The history of the siege, written by Augustin Kordecki in 1658, was used by Henryk Sienkiewicz in his famous novel “The Flood”.

Januarius Sukhodolsky. Defense of Jasna Góra in 1655.

In 1656, King Jan Casimir issued a manifesto on the occasion of the end of the war with the Swedes, in which he called the Czestochowa Icon “Queen of Poland.” And in 1717, the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God was crowned Queen of Poland. Crowns sent by Pope Clement XI were placed on the heads of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus.

After the chapel of the Miraculous Image of the Virgin Mary, the cathedral itself in the name of the Holy Cross and the Nativity of the Virgin Mary no longer makes much of an impression. Nevertheless, this is an ancient, majestic temple built in the 15th century. After the fire of 1690, Karl Danquart decorated the interiors of the cathedral in Baroque style.

The Italian Giacomo Buccini created the main altar in 1728.

In the monastery you can see not only the chapel and the cathedral, but also much more. For example, the Renaissance Knight's Hall, located behind the chapel of the Miraculous Image of the Virgin Mary. the most important events in the history of the monastery are depicted on its walls.

The monastery has several museum exhibitions. The former arsenal displays iconography and religious painting from the 14th to the 20th centuries.
There is a treasury next to the cathedral. It contains not only bowls, reliquaries and monstrations, but also a lot of secular jewelry donated by pilgrims: watches, rings, necklaces. And the walls of the Chapel of Our Lady of Czestochowa are hung with votive gifts: silver gilded hearts, arms, legs, etc. They are donated by those healed at the icon through the prayers of the Virgin Mary. Entrance to the monastery museums is free, but, unfortunately, photography in the arsenal and treasury is prohibited.
The monastery is surrounded by bastions built at the beginning of the 17th century. They do not look like the walls and towers familiar to Russian eyes. Nevertheless, these bastions became an insurmountable stronghold on the way of the Swedes during the “flood”. However, more than 100 years later, in 1772, the last Polish king, Stanislaw August Poniatowski, ordered Jasna Guru to be surrendered to the Russian army. Our troops were in the monastery twice more: in 1813, the Russian army occupied the monastery during a foreign campaign against Napoleon. The rector presented the Russian Field Marshal Fabian Osten-Sacken with a copy of the Czestochowa Icon, which was then placed in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Later the list ended up in the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism. And in January 1945, a rapid attack by Soviet tank crews forced the Nazis to leave Czestochowa, not only without blowing up Jasna Guru, but abandoning the looted valuables.
Walking around the monastery along the bastions, you pay attention to the sculptural compositions depicting the Passion of the Lord. We didn't see some of them due to renovations.
“Guilty of death.”

Veronica's plate.

Jesus fell under the cross for the second time.

Raising the Cross.

Lamentation of Christ.
We left this amazing place at dusk. Evening shadows enveloped the cathedral and only in the west did an elusive strip of dawn glow.
There was no longer a guard in the parking lot, so parking was free for us. We didn't bother to eat all day. The search for food in the city was somehow unsuccessful 🙁 As a result, already on A1 we stopped at a peculiar cafe. Sorry about the quality, I shot it with a soap dish from a crooked support without a tripod. Lunch on this plane cost us 80 pln, which is quite a lot for a Polish roadside eatery. However, it was worth it!
But the overnight stay in “Zajazd Guralski” not far from Tomaszow Mazowiecki turned out to be the worst during all our wanderings around Poland. Even the cramped and cold room in Sandomierz turned out to be better - at least it was quiet there. I categorically do not recommend it, despite the pretentious interior.
No fireplace in the restaurant...
no swans (or maybe snakes) from the towels...
do not compensate for the inconveniences: kitchen fumes in the room and complete lack of sound insulation! Especially when at 3 o’clock in the morning a tipsy group bursts into the restaurant below.
The next morning we set off for Warsaw, stopping at Wilanów on the way. On the occasion of the approaching All Saints' Day, the palace was closed. So all we have to do is enjoy the beauty of the baroque architecture of the times of Jan Sobieski and Stanislaw Kostka Potocki.

rustling fallen leaves in the autumn park...
yes, “hunt” squirrels... Oh, and the animals turned out to be nimble, they didn’t want to pose at all :)

Our impressions of Warsaw can be found here. And don’t forget to get acquainted with the small town, it is located not far from Warsaw. In the article about, we talked about how they celebrate in Poland.

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From that place of Chestokhov, about half a mile away, the monastery, that is, the stone monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos, was built on a high stone mountain. That monastery is great, it has stone churches with a marvelous structure, and there are many beautiful stone carvings on the outside. Around that monastery there is a great ditch, lined with stone, white and gray, wild; The fence near the monastery is stone. There are only stone gates to that monastery; At those gates there is always a guard, soldiers with guns, 20 people each.<...>In that monastery there is a large, large pharmacy, in which I saw a lot of all kinds of medicines, and there was a fair amount of equipment in that pharmacy. In that monastery, every lawyer has a special cell for himself, and they rarely visit each other. The cells were all built nearby, stone, beautiful, just small; Between the cells there were wide, substantial, stone passages. In that monastery there is an academy that teaches high sciences, even up to philosophy. And where they have disputes, a special, great plate is made for this purpose. That monastery of ancient structure, in that place from its beginning has been motionless for 360 years, has 206 households under its subjects. In that monastery in the churches there are all sorts of riches given from the coming prayer workers, of whom there are always many in that monastery from all sides, and many people come from distant Christian lands.

Fortifications

The monastery has a quadrangular shape, with powerful arrow-shaped bastions located in the corners. The entrance to the monastery is protected by a ravelin shaped like a pentagonal lunette. The bastions are named:

Bastion Morsztynov
Bastion of St. Barbara (or Lubomirsky Bastion)
royal bastion (or Potocki bastion)
Bastion of the Holy Trinity (Shanyavsky Bastion)

Bell tower

The high 106-meter bell tower was built in 1714 in the Baroque style. It suffered from fires several times, and in 1906 it was reconstructed and built on.

The bell tower consists of 5 levels. At the height of the second level, there are four clock dials on the outside, on each side of the tower. Every 15 minutes, 36 bells play the melody of a hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The interior of the third level is decorated with 4 statues - St. Paul of Thebes, St. Floriana, St. Casimir and St. Jadwiga. There are 516 steps leading to the upper, fifth level. There are four statues of the Teachers of the Church - St. Albert the Great, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Augustine and St. Ambrose of Milan. On the spire of the tower there is a statue of a raven with a piece of bread in its mouth (symbol of the Pauline Order) and a monogram of the Blessed Virgin. The spire is crowned with a cross, which is brightly illuminated at night.

Chapel of the Virgin Mary

The chapel in which it is kept. The remains of Augustin Kordetsky, the abbot who led the defense of the monastery from the Swedes, are buried in the left wall. nave manuscripts. Many of them formed the core of the so-called Jagiellonian collection, which at one time was bequeathed to the monastery.

Knights' Hall

The Knights' Hall hosts meetings, episcopate sessions, theological and philosophical conferences, as well as exhibitions.

Others

The complex of monastery buildings also includes living quarters for the monks, an arsenal, a museum of the 600th anniversary of the monastery, royal chambers, a meeting room, etc.

Pilgrimages

The train arrived in Częstochowa early in the morning. It was a long way from the station to the monastery, which stood on a high green hill.
The pilgrims—Polish peasants and peasant women—came out of the carriage. Among them were city dwellers in dusty bowlers. The old, corpulent priest and the clergy boys in lace robes were waiting for the pilgrims at the station.
Right there, near the station, a procession of pilgrims lined up on the dusty road. The priest blessed her and muttered a prayer through her nose. The crowd fell to their knees and crawled towards the monastery, chanting psalms.
The crowd crawled on its knees all the way to the monastery cathedral. A gray-haired woman with a white, frantic face crawled ahead. She was holding a black wooden crucifix in her hands.
The priest walked slowly and indifferently in front of this crowd. It was hot, dusty, sweat was rolling down our faces. People breathed hoarsely, looking back angrily at those lagging behind.
I grabbed my grandmother's hand.
- Why is this? - I asked in a whisper.
“Don’t be afraid,” the grandmother answered in Polish. - They are sinners. They want to beg forgiveness from God.

Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Yasnogorsk.
(Sanktuarium Najświętszej Maryi Panny Jasnogórskie).
Poland (Polska), Silesian Voivodeship (Województwo śląskie). Częstochowa powiat (district) (Powiat częstochowski). Częstochowa. Klasztorna 1.

Jasna Gora or Jasnogorski(Jasna Gora, in Polish Jasna Góra)- Catholic monastery in the Polish city of Czestochowa. Full title - Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Yasnogorsk(in Polish Sanktuarium Najświętszej Maryi Panny Jasnogórskie).

History of the city of Częstochowa and its origins Yasnogorsk Monastery go back centuries. Thus, the first village of Częstochowa was founded back in the 11th century, and the first mention of it in historical documents dates back to 1220. Czestochowa received city status in 1377.

In 1382, the Polish prince Władysław of Opolski invited monks of the Pauline Order (Ordo Sancti Pauli Primi Eremitæ in Latin, Zakon Świętego Pawła Pierwszego Pustelnika) to Poland from Hungary, to whom the prince gave the parish church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Thanks to the gifts and donations of Władysław II Jagiełło and his wife Jadwiga, the monastery was founded in 1393 on a hill whose absolute height is 293 meters. The new monastery received a name "Jasna Gora" in honor of the main church of the order at that time - the Church of St. Lawrence on Jasna Góra in Buda (now Budapest).

The Jasnogorsk Monastery is famous for the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God kept here (due to the dark shade of its face, it is also known as "Black Madonna" Czarna Madonna or Matka Boska Częstochowska), which is revered by Catholics and Orthodox Christians as the greatest relic.

According to legend, The Czestochowa Icon refers to the icons of the Most Holy Theotokos, which were painted by the Apostle Luke on a board from the table at which the Most Holy Family prayed and ate food. In 326, when Saint Helena visited Jerusalem, she, according to legend, received this icon as a gift and brought it to Constantinople. The history of the icon can be reliably traced from the end of the 13th century, when the Galician-Volhynian prince Lev Danilovich transported the icon from Constantinople to the city of Belz (modern Ukraine), where it became famous for its numerous miracles. She was transported to the Yasnogorsk monastery by Vladislav Opolsky. Information about this event is contained in the ancient manuscript “Translatio Tabulae”, a copy of which, dating from 1474, is kept in the monastery archive.

Czestochowa icon made on a wooden panel measuring 122.2 x 82.2 x 3.5 centimeters, belongs to the Hodegetria type. The Child Christ sits in the arms of the Mother of God, blesses with his right hand, and holds a book in his left.

On Easter April 14, 1430, the monastery was attacked by a band of Hussite robbers from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. They plundered the monastery. Having burst into the chapel of the Mother of God, they tore the icon from the altar, stole valuable objects surrounding it and cut the face of the Madonna with sabers. After which they threw the icon on the ground so that the boards of the icon cracked into three parts.

The restoration of the image took place in Krakow at the court of King Władysław Jagiello. The artists unsuccessfully applied new paints several times, but they came off the icon again and again. Desperate to restore the icon, they removed the remains of the original paint from the board and painted a new copy of it, as close as possible to the original. And where there were cuts on the face of the Mother of God, in memory of the vandalism, they made marks with a chisel on the new icon. It is in this form that the icon has survived to this day.

Above the entrance to the side chapel of the temple there is a copy of the icon of the Mother of God from Czestochowa. According to art historians, a copy of the icon was created in Byzantium in the 9th–11th centuries.

In 1466 Yasnogorsk Monastery survived another siege by the Czech army.
After these events, the glory of the Yasnogorsk monastery increased more than before. IN Yasnogorsk Monastery Numerous pilgrims began to arrive, the original chapel could no longer accommodate everyone, and the monastery began to expand, and the construction of a new large church began. Another attack on the monastery and its robbery, as well as the border location of the Jasnogorsk Hill, persuaded the Polish kings Sigismund III Waza (Sigismund, Zygmunt) and Władysław IV Waza to surround the monastery with a defensive moat. In 1621, fortification work began, thus the sanctuary on Jasna Góra became Mary's fortress.

The fortifications built in 1621-1644 turned Yasnogorsk Monastery into a significant defense site. Very soon, the fortifications of the Yasnogorsk monastery were subjected to a severe test of strength during the so-called “flood”, the Swedish invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1655. The Swedish offensive developed rapidly, and within a few months Poznan, Warsaw and Krakow were taken; the Polish gentry en masse went over to the side of the enemy; King Jan II Kazimierz Waza fled the country. On November 18 of the same year, the Swedish army under the command of General Miller approached the walls Yasnogorsk Monastery. Despite the multiple superiority of the Swedes in manpower (the Swedes were about 3 thousand against 170 soldiers, 20 nobles and 70 monks in the monastery), abbot Augustin Kordetsky decided to fight. The heroic defense of the monastery forced the invaders to retreat and served as an example for the whole country, leading to the expulsion of the Swedes, which was regarded by many in Poland as a miracle of the Virgin Mary.

On April 1, 1656, the grateful King John II Casimir Vasa, during a solemn vow, placed himself and his country under the guardianship of the Mother of God, naming her Spiritual Mother and Queen of Poland.
The monastery had to endure several more attacks during the Northern War, in 1702, 1704 and 1705, but they were also repelled. In 1716, the monks of the monastery submitted a petition to Rome to have the image crowned. In 1717, after receiving approval from Pope Clement XI, the icon was crowned in the presence of 200,000 pilgrims. The placing of crowns on the heads of the Child and the Mother of God symbolized the special importance of the icon and its miraculous power.

After the defeat of the Bar Confederation in 1772, the last Polish king, Stanisław August Poniatowski, ordered surrender the Yasnogorsk monastery to Russian troops. The second time the monastery was occupied by the Russian army in 1813 during the Napoleonic wars. The abbot of the Yasnogorsk Monastery presented the Russian military leaders with a list of the icon, which was then kept in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, and after the closure of the cathedral in 1932, it was transferred to the State Museum of the History of Religion for storage. The Russian army destroyed the fortress walls of the Yasnogorsk monastery, however, in 1843, Nicholas I ordered their restoration. The walls were built in a slightly different configuration than before.

In conditions when Poland was divided between other states, Yasnogorsk Monastery and the icon stored in it were important symbols of the unity of the nation, so the Częstochowa image was depicted on the banners of the participants in the Polish uprising of 1863. After the suppression of the uprising, some of the Pauline monks were accused of supporting the rebels and deported to Siberia.

During the Second World War Yasnogorsk Monastery was occupied by the Nazis, pilgrimages were prohibited. On January 16, 1945, a surprise attack by Soviet tanks on Częstochowa led to the Nazis abandoning the monastery without harming it.
After the war Yasnogorsk Monastery continued to be the spiritual center of the country. In September 1956, on the day of the tercentenary of the “Lvov vows” of John II Casimir Vasa, about a million believers prayed here for the release of the primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, who had been imprisoned by the communist authorities. The cardinal's release took place a month after this.

The territory of the Yasnogorsk monastery covers an area of 5 hectares. The monastery buildings are surrounded on three sides by a park, while on the fourth side there is a large square leading to them, which on major holidays is completely filled with pilgrims.

The monastery has a quadrangular shape, with powerful arrow-shaped bastions in the corners.

The bastions are named:

bastion Morsztynów (Rocha, Bastion Morsztynów).
Bastion of St. Barbara (Lyubomirskikh, Bastion św. Barbary, bastion Lubomirskich).
royal bastion (Potocki, St. Jacob, Bastion królewski, bastion Potockich).
Bastion of the Holy Trinity (Szaniawskikh, Bastion św. Trójcy, bastion Szaniawskich).

The dominant feature of the Yasnogorsk monastery is the Yasnogorsk bell tower with a height of 106.3 meters. The bell tower was built in 1714 in Baroque style. It suffered from fires several times, and in 1906 it was reconstructed and built on. The bell tower consists of 5 levels. At the height of the second level, there are four clock dials on the outside, on each side of the tower. Every 15 minutes, 36 bells play the melody of a hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The interior of the third level is decorated with 4 statues - St. Paul of Thebes, St. Florian, St. Casimir and St. Jadwiga. There are 516 steps leading to the upper, fifth level. There are four statues of the Doctors of the Church - St. Albert the Great, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Augustine and St. Ambrose of Milan. On the spire of the tower there is a statue of a raven with a piece of bread in its mouth (symbol of the Pauline Order) and a monogram of the Blessed Virgin. The spire is crowned with a cross.

Chapel containing The Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God is the heart of the Jasnogorsk Monastery. The original chapel predates the 17th century and was rebuilt into a three-nave chapel in 1644 (now the presbytery). The icon was placed on an ebony and silver altar donated to the monastery by the Great Chancellor Ossolinsky in 1650 and still remains in the same place. The silver panel protecting the icon dates back to 1673. The veil is lifted only twice a day. The icon changes its appearance from time to time due to the fact that it is “dressed up” alternately in seven different decorations, inlaid with gold, silver and precious stones.
In 1929, another part was added to the chapel. The chapel has 5 altars, its walls are covered with votive gifts. The remains of Augustin Kordetsky, the abbot who led the defense of the monastery from the Swedes, are buried in the left wall.

The cathedral adjacent to the chapel of the miraculous icon is the oldest building Yasnogorsk monastery, its construction began at the beginning of the 15th century. Currently, the cathedral is 46 meters long, 21 meters wide and 29 meters high.

In 1690, a large fire practically destroyed the interior of the temple. In 1692-1695, restoration work was carried out. Several more restorations were carried out in 1706 and 1728.

Heart of Jesus, Saint Anthony of Padua.
The sacristy (sacristy) is located between the cathedral and the chapel of the Virgin Mary and forms one complex with them. It was built in 1651. Its length is 19 meters, width 10 meters. The vault of the sacristy, like the cathedral, was painted by Karl Danquart; the wall paintings date back to the 17th century.
The Knights' Hall is located along the southern facade of the Yasnogorsk Monastery behind the Chapel of the Virgin Mary. It was built in 1647 in the Renaissance style. The walls of the hall were painted in the 17th century by Polish masters and represent the most significant events in the history of the monastery. At the far end of the hall there is an altar of St. John the Evangelist from the 18th century. Meetings, episcopate meetings, theological and philosophical conferences are held in the Knights' Hall.

The complex of monastery buildings also includes living quarters for the monks, the Arsenal, the Museum of the 600th anniversary of the Yasnogorsk Monastery, the Royal Chambers, the Meeting Hall and others.

In 1900-1913, a sculptural group (14 stations) The Way of Christ (Droga Krzyžowa Częstochowa) was created in the dry moat of the monastery. It was designed by the architect Stefana Szyllerskie and created by the sculptor Pius Weloncki.

Before I Snogorsk monastery There is a large open space (square). More than 200,000 pilgrims gather here during major services.

During the year, 4-5 million tourists and pilgrims come to the Yasnogorsk Monastery.


model of the Jasnogorsk Monastery in the miniature park in Ogrodzieniec (Poland)




postage stamps dedicated to the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God (Jasnogorsk Monastery)




postal envelopes dedicated to the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God (Jasnogorsk Monastery)


coins dedicated to the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God (Jasnogorsk Monastery)

coins dedicated to the Yasnogorsk monastery


Yasnogorsk Monastery (Jasna Gora)	Basilica of the Yasnogorsk Monastery

The main entrance of the Yasnogorsk monastery	photo for memory at the Yasnogorsk monastery

Lubomirski Gate of the Yasnogorsk Monastery	Gate of the Queen of Poland of the Jasnogorsk Monastery

gate decorations of the monastery gates	fragment of the monastery gate


Valova Gate (Jagiello)	entrance to the basilica	Yasnogorsk Bell Tower


Royal chambers