Jasna Gora in Czestochowa - Station 08 - Chapel of the Miraculous Icon

Description

The Chapel of the Miraculous Icon is the most important place for each pilgrim coming to Jasna Gora. Here lies the Miraculous Icon of Our Lady of Jasna Góra, often called the Black Madonna. Since its construction in the 15th century, the chapel was enlarged twice. In this moment you are in one of the three parts of the chapel. This part is the youngest and is called the annex, or atrium, as it was created in place of a 17th-century cloisters. This part was designed by Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz and completed in 1933. On the walls of this part of the chapel there are numerous epitaphs and plaques commemorating the fallen during various wars, uprisings, as well as victims of crimes (photo 01.08.001). On the right side of the wall there is, made of black marble, the tombstone of Wojciech Kazimierz Mecinski from Kurozwęki, coat of arms Poraj, Marshal of the Court and governor of Łask (photo 01.08.002). On the upper part of the eastern wall, you can see a more than four metres high copy of the paint by Jan Matejko, called “Śluby króla Jana Kazimierza we Lwowie” (Wedding of king Jan Kazimierz in Lvov) (photo 01.08.003). A faithful copy was painted by Joseph Weyland in 1956 on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the vow made by the king. After 50 years the painting was hung during a solemn Mass in the Chapel of the Miraculous Icon. On the northern wall there is a Renaissance portal made of sandstone (photo 01.08.004), leading to the monastery. On the same wall, in the interior of the chapel, in a glass niche (photo 01.08.005), there is an urn with the ashes of the brave defender of Jasna Gora: father Augustyn Kordecki (photo 01.08.006). In the eastern wall there is a Renaissance portal built of black marble, which leads to the second part of the chapel (photo 01.08.007). On the portal there is an inscription in Latin about the patron of the middle part of the chapel and of the icon of the Madonna and the Child.

This Renaissance part of the chapel was built in the 40s of the 17th century with the funding of the primate Maciej Łubieński (photo 01.08.008). The interior of the chapel, especially the vault, is richly decorated with stucco floral decoration and numerous polychromes (photo 01.08.009). The paintings in the medallions were made in the 17th century by Karol Dankwart. The others come from 1882 and were made by Jan Strzałecki. These paintings depict apostles and saints. Above the entrance of the chancel there are two frescoes. The top one shows the Virgin Mary, Queen of the World, with the Child (photo 01.08.010). The lower one depicts the story of the miraculous defence of Jasna Gora (photo 01.08.011). If you move to the right side of the chancel, you will pass in turn the altar of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Altar of the Nativity of Our Lady (photo 01.08.012), and, most precious in this part of the chapel, the altar of the Holy Cross, built in 1749 (photo 01.08.013). On the altar there is a beautiful crucifix from the 15th century, made in Veit Stoss’s school. In the opposite nave there is the altar of the St. Visitation of Elizabeth, the altar of the Presentation of the Mother of God, and the altar of Our Lady of Sorrows, where there is a precious pieta from the end of the 15th century (photo 01.08.014). In this part of the chapel, on the walls, there are numerous votive offerings (photo 01.08.015-01.08.016), testimony of pilgrims gratitude for graces received with the mediation of the Mother of God. Please, go now in front of the presbytery and look at the exit. On the left pillar you may notice a Renaissance pulpit (photo 01.08.017) and on the choir a richly decorated pipe organ with an instrument made in 1987 (photo 01.08.018). This consist of 34 pipes. In this part of the chapel there are also a number of tombstones from the 17th century, housing the remains of numerous benefactors of the monastery (photo 01.08.019-01.08.022).

Please, now go to the chancel of the Chapel of Our Lady of Czestochowa, which is the heart of the monastery complex of Jasna Gora. Coming to this part of the chapel, please, pay attention to the Gdansk wrought-iron grating from 1644, funded by the Primate Maciej Łubieński (photo 01.08.023). The chancel is the oldest preserved part of Jasna Gora. It was built in the first half of the 15th century with the benevolence of King Wladyslaw Jagiello. The Gothic vault is covered with frescoes made by Tomasz Dolabella around the 1600. In the central part of the sanctuary there is an altar. It was made in the mid-17th century, with the benevolence of Jerzy Ossoliński. The whole is made of ebony. In the central part there is the miraculous icon of Our Lady with the Child (photo 01.08.024). The image is clothed with a dress and papal crown. The frame of the icon dates back to the 1673; it was made by the goldsmith John Leman, and patronised by the Działyński family. The whole is inserted into an altar niche, which is covered with a golden bar from 1723, depicting the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the left of the image, you can note the insignia of the royal power. A gilded sceptre and a globus cruciger were donated by the Polish women in 1926. While, on the right side, you may see a gold rose, donated by Pope Paul VI, and a gold heart with Totus Tuus inscription, donated by the Pope Saint John Paul II. In the interiors of the altar, there are two silver statues donated by King Zygmunt III Wasa. On the left, there is a statue of St. Paul the First Hermit, and on the right side St. Kazimierz Jagielończyk. A valuable object placed on the main altar is also the bloody belt of the cassock of Pope Saint John Paul II, shot through during the attempt on his life in 1981. Two years later, the pope gave it to Jasna Gora as a vote of gratitude for the miraculous deliverance.

Please, now leave the chapel of the Miraculous Icon by the west entrance and go to the courtyard in front of the Chapel of the Miraculous Icon.