Częstochowa
[key], city, Śląskie prov., S Poland, on the Warta River. It
is an important railway and industrial center, known especially for its iron
and steel plant and iron-smelting works. Other industries include iron-ore
mining, food processing, sawmilling, and the manufacture of chemicals and
textiles. Iron ore is mined in the vicinity. Częstochowa is a
celebrated religious center, and a world-famous place of pilgrimage. Its
monastery stands on the Jasna Gora [mountain of light] and contains an image
of Mary known as the Black Madonna, supposedly painted by St. Luke and
brought to Częstochowa in the 14th cent. In 1655, when Charles X of
Sweden overran Poland, the prior and a handful of soldiers defended the
monastery and its relic for 40 days until the Swedes abandoned the siege.
Fired by what they thought to be a miracle, the Polish people rose to
successful resistance. The event figures prominently in Henryk Sienkiewicz's
novel The Deluge. The monastery was again defended against
the Swedes in 1702. Venerated as the “Queen of Poland,” the
image became the national symbol of Poland.
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