Poland’s Black Madonna shrine attracts 4 million visitors in 2017
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
02.01.2018 08:30
The internationally renowned Black Madonna shrine in the southern Polish city of Częstochowa attracted 4 million pilgrims and tourists in 2017.
![The Jasna Góra monastery in the southern Polish city of Częstochowa, home to the country's revered Black Madonna icon. Photo: Aw58 [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://external.polskieradio.pl/files/1680e632-fd53-4463-bb00-57573a3cf50f.file "The Jasna Góra monastery in the southern Polish city of Częstochowa, home to the country's revered Black Madonna icon. Photo: Aw58 [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons")
The Jasna Góra monastery in the southern Polish city of Częstochowa, home to the country's revered Black Madonna icon. Photo: Aw58 [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
More than 800,000 pilgrims visited the site in organised groups from across Poland, with 123,000 arriving there on foot, according to the shrine’s press office.
Foreign pilgrims and tourists came from 76 countries, with Germans, Italians, Americans, Spaniards and Frenchmen being the most numerous national groups.
The Catholic shrine also drew 28 church leaders from 18 countries.
In 2016, the site was visited by a record 4.5 million pilgrims and tourists from 82 countries, including 400,000 flocking there to meet with Pope Francis during the Roman Catholic Church’s World Youth Day event in July.
(mk/gs)