Częstochowa
Częstochowa is a city in southern Poland on the Warta with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship. However, Częstochowa is historically part of Lesser Poland, not Silesia, and before the 1795 Partition of Poland, it belonged to the Kraków Voivodeship. Częstochowa is located in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. It is the largest economic, cultural and administrative hub in the northern part of the Silesian Voivodeship.
The city is known for the famous Jasna Góra Monastery of the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit of the Catholic Church, which is the home of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, a shrine to Mary, mother of Jesus. Every year, millions of pilgrims from all over the world come to Częstochowa to see it.
Częstochowa was also home to Frankism in the late 18th and 19th centuries, an antinomian Sabbatean movement of Rabbinic Judaism that led to a mass conversion to Catholicism.
The city excavated an ancient site of the Lusatian culture, with a museum devoted to it. The ruins of a medieval Royal Castle stand in Olsztyn, approximately from the city centre.
City name
The name of Częstochowa means 'Częstoch's place' and comes from a personal name of Częstoch, mentioned in the medieval documents also as Częstobor and Częstomir. Variations of the name include Czanstochowa used in 1220, and Częstochow used in 1382 and 1558. A part of today's city called Częstochówka was a separate municipality mentioned in the 14th century as the Old Częstochowa and Częstochówka in 1470–80. The city was also known in German as Tschenstochau, in Russian as Ченстохов, and in Yiddish as טשענסטאָכאָוו.History
A Lusatian culture cemetery from around 750–550 BC is located in the present-day district of Raków and it is now an Archaeological Reserve, a branch of the Częstochowa Museum.Middle Ages
According to archaeological findings, the first medieval settlement in the location of Częstochowa was established in the late 11th century within Piast-ruled Poland. It was first mentioned in historical documents from 1220, when Bishop of Kraków Iwo Odrowąż made a list of properties of the Mstów monastery. Two villages, Częstochowa and Częstochówka were mentioned in the document. Both of them belonged to the basic territorial unit of Slavic Polish tribes, with its capital at Mstów. Częstochówka was located on a hill, where the Jasna Góra Monastery was later built.In the late 13th century Częstochowa became the seat of a Roman Catholic parish church, which was under the Lelów deanery. The village was located in the northwestern corner of Kraków Land, Lesser Poland, near the Royal Castle at Olsztyn. Częstochowa developed along a busy merchant road from Lesser Poland to Greater Poland. The village was ruled by a starosta, who stayed at the Olsztyn Castle.
It is not known when Częstochowa was granted a town charter, as no documents have been preserved. It happened sometime between 1356 and 1377. In 1502, King Alexander Jagiellon granted a new charter, based on Magdeburg rights to Częstochowa. In 1382 the Paulist monastery of Jasna Góra was founded by Vladislaus II of Opole – the Polish Piast prince of Upper Silesia. Two years later the monastery received its now-famous Black Madonna icon of the Virgin Mary; in subsequent years became a centre of pilgrimage, contributing to the growth of the adjacent town.
Early modern period
Częstochowa prospered in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, due to efforts of Sigismund I the Old, the future king of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. At that time, Sigismund ruled the Duchy of Głogów, and frequently visited Częstochowa on his way to the duchy. In 1504, Częstochowa was granted the right to collect tolls on the Warta river bridge. In 1508, Częstochowa was allowed to organise one fair a year; in 1564, the number of fairs was increased to three annually, and in 1639 to six. In the year 1631, Częstochowa had 399 houses, but at the same time, several residents died in a plague, after which 78 houses were abandoned.In the first half of the 17th century, kings of the House of Vasa turned the Jasna Góra Monastery into a modern Dutch-style fortress. During the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655, the monastery was one of the pockets of Polish resistance against the Swedish armies. The town of Częstochowa was almost completely destroyed by Swedish soldiers. It has been estimated that the town lost 50% of the population, and 60% of houses. But the town suffered less severe destruction than nearby towns like Przyrów, Olsztyn and Mstów. It took several years for Częstochowa to recover from these extensive losses. As late as in the 1680s there still were ruined houses in the town.
At the same time, the Jasna Góra Monastery prospered. On 27 February 1670 the wedding of King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki to Princess Eleonore of Austria took place here. In 1682 the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa brought thousands of pilgrims from both Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Silesia. The Jewish community in Częstochowa developed by about 1700.
File:ChelmonskiJozef.1875.KazimierzPulaskiPodCzestochowa.jpg|thumb|left|Kazimierz Pulaski and the Bar Confederation 1772 defence of Częstochowa. Painting by Chełmoński.
During the Great Northern War, Częstochowa was captured by the Swedish army on 11 August 1702. In February 1703 Swedes besieged the monastery, but failed to seize it. In April 1705 the Swedes returned, and appeared at the monastery again in September 1709. Unable to capture the fortified stronghold, they looted villages in the area, set Częstochowa on fire, and left towards Wieluń. At that time, a village of Częstochówka also existed next to Częstochowa. The village belonged to the monastery and quickly developed. In 1717 it was granted town charter, and its name was changed into Nowa Częstochowa. The town was completely destroyed during the Bar Confederation. On 8 February 1769 the monastery was seized by rebels of the Bar Confederation, commanded by Kazimierz Pułaski. Soon the stronghold was besieged by Russians under German-born General Johann von Drewitz. The Russians gave up on 15 January 1771.
In 1789, the population of Częstochowa was app. 1,600, which was less than in the 15th century. After the Great Sejm passed the Constitution of 3 May 1791, local Sejmiks were obliged to legitimize it. On 14–15 February 1792, a sejmik of the szlachta of northern part of Kraków Voivodeship took place in Częstochowa. Traditionally, local sejmiks were organized in Żarnowiec; the fact that it was moved to Częstochowa confirms the growing importance of the town.
In 1760, Jacob Frank, the leader of a Jewish sect mixing Kabbalah, Catholicism and Islam, was imprisoned for heresy in the monastery by the church. His followers settled near him, later establishing a cult of his daughter Eve Frank. In August 1772, Frank was released by the Russian general Aleksandr Bibikov, who had occupied the city. Frank had promised the Russians that he would convince Jews to convert to Orthodox Christianity.
Partitions of Poland
During the Second Partition of Poland, Częstochowa was seized by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1793, and incorporated into the newly formed province of South Prussia, Department of Kalisz. The Old Częstochowa became the seat of a county. During the Napoleonic Wars, in 1807 Częstochowa became part of the Duchy of Warsaw. In 1815 it came under Russian-controlled Congress Poland, in which it remained until World War I. Old Częstochowa remained the seat of a county in 1807–1830. In 1809, the monastery was unsuccessfully besieged by Austrians. On 2 April 1813 Jasna Góra was seized by the Russians, after a two-week siege, and the fortifications were razed that year.In 1821, the government of Congress Poland carried out a census, according to which the population of New Częstochowa was 1,036, while the population of Old Częstochowa was 2,758. Furthermore, almost four hundred people lived in several settlements in the area. The idea of a merger of both towns was first brought up in 1815. In 1819, military architect Jan Bernhard planned and started the construction of Aleja Najświętszej Panny Marii—the Holy Virgin Mary Avenue, which is the main arterial road of the modern city. It connected Old Częstochowa with New Częstochowa.
Finally, the two towns were officially merged on 19 August 1826. The new city quickly emerged as the fourth-largest urban centre of Congress Poland; surpassed only by the cities of Warsaw, Lublin, and Kalisz. On 8 September 1862 a patriotic rally took place in the city, in front of St. Sigismund church. As a reprisal, Russian military authorities destroyed app. 65% of Częstochowa's Old Town, and introduced martial law. During the January Uprising, several skirmishes took place in the area of Częstochowa, with the last one taking place on 4 July 1864 near Chorzenice.
In 1846 the Warsaw-Vienna Railway line was opened, linking the city with the rest of Europe. After 1870 iron ore started to be developed in the area, which gave a boost to the local industry. Among the most notable investments of the epoch was the Huta Częstochowa steel mill built by Bernard Hantke, as well as several textile mills and paper factories.
In 1900, the traveling cinema of brothers Władysław and Antoni Krzemiński came to the city for the first time, after it was founded in Łódź in 1899 as the oldest Polish cinema. In 1909, they settled in Częstochowa and founded Kino Odeon, the first permanent cinema in the city.
Up to the Second World War, like many other cities in Europe, Częstochowa had a significant Jewish population: according to Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 45,130, Jews constituted 12,000.
An anti-Semitic pogrom occurred in 1902. A mob attacked the Jewish shops, killing fourteen Jews and one gendarme.
Częstochowa entered the 20th century as one of the leading industrial centres of Russian Poland. The city was conveniently located on the Warta and other smaller rivers. Real estate and land prices were low, compared to Łódź. The monastery attracted numerous pilgrims, who also were customers of local businesses. In 1904, Częstochowa had 678 smaller workshops, which employed 2,000 workers. In 1902, rail connection to the Prussian border crossing at Herby Stare was opened, and in 1911, the line to Kielce was completed. The Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland began in Częstochowa as early as May 1904, when first patriotic rallies took place. On 25 December 1904 a man named Wincenty Makowski tried to blow up a monument of Tsar Alexander II, which stood in front of the monastery. In February 1905, a general strike action was declared in the city, with workers demanding pay rises. In June 1905 street clashes took place in Częstochowa, in which 20 people were killed by Russian forces. Further protests took place in 1909 and 1912.