What to see in Czestochowa and surroundings

Czestochowa is a Polish city located in the slaskie region. According to legend, the name of this city refers to a settlement established by Czestoch, but the first document mentioning Czestochowa originated from 1220.

Between 1370 and 1393, Czestochowa was part of the fief of Wladyslaw Opolczyk. During those times, the town was known as Stara Czestochowa, and the village owned by the Jasna Gora monastery was known as Czestochowka.

Today, Czestochowa is a very popular tourist destination, especially among religious people.

Jasna Gora – Pauline monastery

Jasna Gora is a sanctuary with a Pauline monastery in Czestochowa, located at a hill of the same name. It is one of the most important places of the Marian cult, famous for its image of Our Lady of Czestochowa, which supposedly has miraculous powers.

The origins of the monastery date all the way back to June 22nd 1382, when the Paulines were brought from their mother monastery in Hungary by prince Wladyslaw Opolczyk. At that time, they received a wooden parish church.

The Monastery at Jasna Gora became especially important for Polish people during the Swedish Deluge in 1655 and on April 1st 1656, when king Jan II Kazimierz Waza took the Lviv vows.

The Czestochowa Museum

The Czestochowa Museum is a place, where visitors can discover the history of the area of the city from the prehistorical times to the beginning of the interwar period.

At the exhibit you can see traces of human functioning at the area of Czestochowa from roughly 60.000 years ago. The remainings of the people living here in the past include tools from the neolithic period, clay dishes and jewelry made from bronze.

Later, you will be able to discover the history of Czestochowa from the middle ages all the way to the fall of the Noble Republic. One of the museum’s most important artefacts is the foundation document of the Pauline Monastery at Jasna Gora.

The Match Production Museum

The Match Production Museum in Czestochowa is the only place of its kind in Europe, as well as the oldest match factory in Poland. Visitors can see two exhibition halls located inside the defunct Match Factory, which has a well-preserved technological linefrom the 1930.

At the area of the former factory you can see a gorgeous monumental machine park, as well as observe the process of creating matches. The interesting thing is that the technology of creating matches has remained unchanged since 1913. You should also pay attention at a special exhibit dedicated to tags from the 1920 to current times.

The Museum of John Paul II’s Coins and Medals in Czestochowa

The Museum of John Paul II’s Coins and Medals is a private museum in Czestochowa established in August of 2011 from the initiative of Krzysztof Witkowski. For many years, the owner of the museum was gathering objects and artefacts associated with pope John Paul II. The conversations between Witkowski an a collector named Wojciech Grabowski resulted in the purchase of a huge collection of roughly 3500 artefacts.

The collection of the museum mostly consists of coins and medals with the image of pope John Paul II. It is the largest collection of its type in the world.

The Archaeological Museum of the Lusatian Culture in Czestochowa

The Archaeological Museum of the Lusatian Culture is an exhibitional object of the Czestochowa Museum. The first fragments of bones and ornaments were found in this area before World War I. More remainings were found in 1927 and 1952.

Up until 1959, a nearby primary school was keeping several dishes , which came from accidential discoveries. The graveyard itself was discovered in January of 1955 during the construction works. The first discoveries were destroyed, but in the summer of that same year, excavation works were organized for rescue purposes.

The Raczynski Palace in Zloty Potok

The Raczynski Palace in Zloty Potok was created in its current form after the reconstruction of an earlier building in the 19th century.

Since the 16th century, the area of the current palace was most likely occupied by a defensive mansion known as Zameczek. In the early 19th century, the old mansion fell into ruin and could no longer be inhabited. The property was acquired and renovated by general Wincenty Krasinski. In 1856, he ordered the construction of a classicist palace with the use of the earlier construction.

The Palace in Koszecin

The Palace in Koszecin is a classicist palace complex located in the centre of the village of Koszecin.

The first headquarters of the owners of Koszecin was a wooden castle, which burned down in the early 17th century. In 1609, Andrzej Kochcicki began the construction of a brick-made chapel and palace. The construction was finished by Filip von Rauthen. During the reign of Mikolaj Filip von Rauthen, the castle was visited by king Jan Sobieski and his court. Since 1953, the palace is the headquarters of the „Slask” Singing and Dancing Groyp of Stanislaw Hadyna.

The Old Craft Museum in Zarki

The Old Craft Museum in Zarki was created by the Zarki community and officially opened on August 2nd 2015.

The bottom floor of the museum presents the original equipment of the old mill. Meanwhile, the upper floor has artefacts and mutlimedia presentations, which introduce visitors to ancient craft of Zarki, such as shoemaking, cooperage and wheelwrighting. The electric mill, which is the location of the museum, was constructed in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It was most likely created from the initiative of a private investor named Siedlecki. Around the year 1952, the mill was nationalized.

The Silesian Park

The Silesian Park is a city park in Chorzow, which occupies the area of 535 hectares. It is one of the largest city parks in Europe. One of the main initiators of the creation of the park was general Jerzy Zietek. The construction of the park began in July of 1951. It was mostly fulfilled through social actions. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Silesian Park gained several attraction, which can still be enjoyed today, including:

• The Silesian ZOO – Poland’s third zoological garden in terms of surface behind the ones in Gdansk-Oliwa and Poznan.
• The Silesian Amusement Park (currently „Legendia”) – the oldest amusement park in Poland with plenty of merry-go-rounds and other great attractions for families with children.
• The Silesian Observatory – the largest and oldest astronomical observatory in Poland.

The castle in Bobolice

The castle in Bobolice is a royal castle, originally built in the mid-14th century and later rconstructed. This castle was constructed by king Kazimierz the Great, most likely between 1350 and 1352. It was supposed to protect the local lands. In 1370, king Ludwik Wegierski gave the castle to his relative – Wladyslaw Opolczyk.

During the Swedish Deluge in 1657, the Swedish people under the leadership of general Muller severely destroyed the castle. It was later owned by the Mecinski family from Zarki, but after the Swedish wars in the 17th and 18th centuries the castle was abandoned and fell into ruin.