Czesochowa

Another thing I wanted to mention from my several-years-ago travels was the Black Madonna of Czestochowa. The Black Madonna is woven into Poland's history her identity as a nation--I remember seeing paintings in Poland of battle scenes in which the icon was present. It is supposed to be black because it was singed in a fire. In Jasna Gora, the church where the Black Madonna is kept, like in many other Polish churches that I visited, there are countless "thanksgivings" (plaques or trinkets or crutches lining the walls to memorialize a healing).