One of the most popular paintings in Poland is certainly the black Madonna Poland (book a trip). It is located on Jasna Góra in the city of Częstochowa, where regardless of the season there are many pilgrims. In particular, most tourists fall in August, when the festival is black Madonna in Poland. So where did this picture come from? Why is it so popular?
Black madonna in Poland is increasingly visited
The origin of the icon is also shrouded in mystery. Emperor Constantine the Great was to bring this picture from Jerusalem to Constantinople, and later give it to the Russian prince Lion. Then, during the war conducted by King Ludwig the Great in Ruthenia, the painting was to get to the vicinity of Lviv, in the hands of the Opole prince Władysław, who brought him to Poland and offered it to the Paulines in Jasna Góra. The beginnings of this story are certainly fantasy, but the ending is more likely. In the documents we record the handing over of the image in 1382 to the Paulines in Częstochowa. In the chronicler Jan Długosz, whose accounts were usually close to the truth, we find similar references. Ruthenian chronicles say that the image of Our Lady of Częstochowa arrived in Lviv in 1270 from Kiev to Constantinople, and then the prince of Opole Władysław took him to Poland and gave it to monks in Jasna Góra.
Our Lady of Częstochowa became famous only after its damage and then renovation in 1431. Then, at the behest of King Jagiełło, the painting was decorated with silver sheets and crowns, and then in a solemn procession, it was moved from Kraków to Częstochowa. Soon the image was credited with the power of doing miracles.