Day 16 – Depart Krakow, Czestochowa , View Black Madonna, Return to Warsaw

The hotel, Amber Design, where we stayed in Krakow, was a lovely 4 star facility. All of the tour’s hotels were first class, had great breakfasts and were conveniently located near each city’s major attractions. The latter made my individual sightseeing excursions easier on my legs.

Our bags packed and we departed Krakow at 8 AM on the final leg of our journey to Czestochowa; the location of Poland’s most venerated holy icon; Black Madonna.

Czestochowa

 

This city played an important part in Poland’s history. It began as a small medieval village in the 11th century and gained in importance due to its central location near the Warta River. A Catholic Parish was established and received, as a gift, a painting, mounted on a wooden palette, of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. The church became a cathedral and was fortified to protect it from invaders. During centuries of being attacked, the cathedral fortress was able to fend off all invaders. As with most cities in Poland, Czestochowa experienced the ravages of World War I and II and oppression of Russian communism in the later part of the 20th century. We did not spend any time visiting the city; only the Cathedral.

Black Madonna of Czestochowa (Our Lady of Czestochowa) 

There are hundreds of paintings throughout the world called “Black Madonna” which refer the painting’s dark complexion skin; thus the need to add an identifier related to location. Poland’s Black Madonna of Czestochowa is four feet in height and was mounted on a wooden palette after it was initially painted. Its black texture is due to aging process and exposure to light and residue from centuries of burning candles. The painting’s origin is unknown and is shrouded by a history of legends that date back to Christ’s apostles. Within Poland’s history, the inability of invaders to conquer those protected by Our Lady of Czestochowa have given credence to its reputation. Below is a mosaic depiction located at the Cathedral’s entrance

Our Visit 

We arrived at the Cathedral at 10 AM and it was already teeming with people. As I walked from the bus into the Cathedral complex, it was evident that the crowds were much larger by a factor of ten than what I experienced in the year 2000. Kasia left us to explore a small area while she went to collect our guide.

Little did we know but we were in for a treat, our guide was a Pauline Priest, Father Simon, who was quite the character....glib but religious, humorous but religious, telling but religious and a damn good guide and religious. What was enjoyable was that we were all wearing “whispers” which allowed us hear our guide without disturbing other visitors. Father would say “sshhhh...be quite.....an explanation....let’s go....sshhhh” and on we went!

Some of Father Simon’s jokes

• As we began the tour...make sure that you follow what Father Simon Says 
• How do you make holy water....boil the hell out of it 
• If you continue to eat too many pierogi you will go to purgatory 

Father Simon walked us through the crowds as if he was the “Pope”. We walked through the Treasury room where we saw magnificent religious icons; paintings that depicted the intervention of the Black Madonna when Pope John Paul II was shot in 1981.

There are two main Churches with the Cathedral along with numerous side altars. We walked through the main Church where a bishop was concelebrating a Mass, and into the room where the priests prepare for the Mass and don their vestments

The most amazing experience of all....we walked from the vestment room through a side door into the sanctuary where at least ten priests were concelebrating Mass in front of the Black Madonna icon. There it was, a mere twenty feet from where we were walking. The celebrants looked astonished and a bit annoyed; some of us were able to take pictures of this precious moment. As we left the altar area following our Pied Piper, Father Simon, we faced hundreds of astonished, praying visitors.

We walked a bit around the grounds but the immense crowds prevented us from seeing all we wanted.

Our final moment was with Father Simon when he transformed himself from Father to “Pope” to provide a photo memory of this very special visit.

Warsaw 

The rest of the day passed quickly. As we approached Warsaw, I was reliving the past sixteen days and was amazed that it passed so quickly. We had a great group of fellow travelers whom Kasia designed as the “Magnificent 20”. We got along well together, maximized interactions so that we got to know each other, and were respectful of our leader, Kasia, Tadek – bus driver and our other tour guides.

Some folks were dropped off at Warsaw’s Chopin airport and were immediately boarding a plane and heading home. Most of us were staying at various airport hotels and would be catching flights back home in the morning. The remainder would be staying a few more days in Poland to trace their ancestral lineage as I had done in Rzeszow at the beginning of my trip.

What a fabulous tour!!!!