Czestochowa is a city of approx 300,000 inhabitants approximately ninety km North West from Krakow. It is the home of The Jasna Gora sanctuary considered to be one of the most sacred places on earth and place of pilgrimage for devoted Catholics.
Every year millions of pilgrims come to the Jasna Gora Sanctuary to pray before the miraculous picture of Our Lady of Czestochowa - one of the small group of Black Madonnas identified from around the world largely due to the recent manifestations of public faithfulness shown by Pope John Paul II. It is believed that St Luke the Evangelist himself painted the divine image on a tabletop from the holy family's house.
