The Shrine of Jasna Gora (Luminous Mountain) is visited every year by more than 4 million Catholic pilgrims. There is the Black Madonna painted according to legend by St. Luke and placed in Czestochowa since 1382. The Sanctuary is famous as a place of ex-voto, as well as a symbol of the resistance of the Polish people to communist oppression. In 1991 John Paul II celebrated the Fourth World Youth Day in Czestochowa and the city was peacefully besieged by over one and a half million pilgrims. Since then, the Shrine is famous throughout the world and the icon of Our Lady represents the symbol of freedom, as well as the reunification of the East with the West.
