Church of St Barbara in Częstochowa

The Church of St Barbara and St Andrew the Apostle stands on the corner of św. Barbary and św. Augustyna streets, about 600 metres from Jasna Góra Monastery. It is a Baroque church of the 17th century, linked to the tradition of the image of Our Lady of Częstochowa, and today the shrine of Our Lady of Jasna Góra the Wounded.

From a Pauline monastery to a basilica

In the 15th and 16th centuries there were two chapels of St Barbara in Częstochowa, one of which was described in 1643 as standing below Jasna Góra. The church together with the Pauline monastery-novitiate was built in 1637-1643 on the initiative of Fr Andrzej Gołdonowski. Originally it was a single-nave, early Renaissance church. Bishop Jan Madaliński consecrated it on 14 May 1643. In 1660 an oratory, that is the chapel of St Anne, was added above the sacristy, connected to the monastery by a covered gallery. In the 18th century the church was extended into a three-aisled basilica.

The northern tower has a cylindrical upper storey crowned with a copper helm. In the niches of the façade stand sculptures from the 19th and 20th centuries by F. Staniszewski and J. Proszowski. The former monastery, now the parish house, has a square plan with an inner courtyard and is joined to the chapel of St Anne by an arcade.

Interior

The high altar is neo-Baroque, from 1882, with a painting of St Barbara. The late Baroque side altars from 1747 have paintings from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, signed by J. Grott. In the western aisle stands a baptismal font of Dębnik marble and a wooden cabinet for holy oils with a relief of the Baptism of Christ from 1747. The 17th-century pulpit shows the four Evangelists, and the chapel of St Michael to the right of the chancel is Baroque with Rococo elements. The organ was built in 1929 by Wacław Biernacki of Warsaw, with pneumatic action.

A place linked to the image

According to tradition, in 1430 robbers abandoned the desecrated image of Our Lady by a spring, where it was washed. At first a cross stood by the spring, and today a Baroque chapel of St Barbara from the first half of the 18th century rises above it. It is this tradition that gives the church the rank of a shrine.

Nearby

You can walk to Jasna Góra in a dozen or so minutes, passing the Valley of Mercy on the way. Nearby is also the Museum of Iron Ore Mining.

Practical information

• Address: ul. św. Barbary 51, Częstochowa.
• The church is active as a parish and shrine; the interiors are visited outside services.
• Current information is provided by the parish.