600th Anniversary Museum of Jasna Góra

Among silver votive offerings, robes for the Miraculous Icon and 17th-century portraits of monks lies an object straight from a church-fair stall: a big red ballpoint pen with a postcard of Pope John Paul II inside. On 31 August 1980 Lech Wałęsa used it to sign the August Agreements that gave birth to the Solidarity movement. The 600th Anniversary Museum, opened in 1982 in the monastery's former printing house, tells the story of six centuries of the Pauline monks and their famous icon – from the founding of the monastery to the 21st century.

History: a jubilee under martial law

The monastery at Jasna Góra was founded in 1382 by Duke Władysław of Opole, who brought Pauline monks from Hungary. Each centenary was marked with ceremony, but the 600th anniversary in 1982 fell during the pontificate of John Paul II and the crackdown on Solidarity. The head of the order, Fr Józef Płatek, and the prior, Fr Konstancjusz Kunz, decided that the main memorial of the jubilee would be a museum exhibition. It was prepared by the curator of the Jasna Góra collections, Fr Jan Golonka, with Marek Rostworowski, curator of the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, and opened on 3 May 1982. The museum occupies the monastery printing house, which operated from 1693 until 1864, when the Russian authorities closed it.

What to see

• Mensa Mariana – the board that once protected the Miraculous Icon, painted with scenes from its history.
• The foundation charter issued by Władysław of Opole and the document of the second foundation by King Władysław Jagiełło from 1393.
• Tomasz Dolabella's canvas of 1635 showing the transfer of the relics of St Paul the First Hermit from Venice to Buda.
• Hermit paintings from the 17th-century Jasna Góra studio and portraits of the order's provincials, including Fr Augustyn Kordecki.
• Robes of the Miraculous Icon offered on jubilees, gold and silver votive offerings from the 17th to 20th centuries, coffin portraits and heraldic plates of benefactors.
• Instruments of the Jasna Góra ensemble from the 17th–18th centuries – the ensemble dates back to the 16th century.
• Mementoes of John Paul II, votive gifts from prisoners of Dachau and Auschwitz, and a cross made from steel of the World Trade Center, donated by firefighters from the rescue operation.

Interesting facts

Wałęsa's pen is a mass-produced souvenir – pens like it, with the Pope's picture, were made from 1978 by Ludwik Górka of Myślenice and sold at pilgrimage sites including Jasna Góra. The one handed to Wałęsa at the Gdańsk Shipyard came to the sanctuary in 1983 together with his Nobel Peace Prize medal and diploma. The person who gave him the pen never came forward.

Tripto tip

The museum entrance is in the courtyard, opposite the Chapel of Our Lady. According to the regional tourism portal it is open from 1 March to 31 October 09:00–17:00 and from 1 November to the end of February 09:00–16:00 – confirm at the Jasna Góra Information Centre (ul. Kordeckiego 2) before you go. Allow about an hour for the exhibition; the Treasury and St Roch's Bastion with its votive collection are close by, so the monastery as a whole easily fills half a day. This is a working monastery, so dress respectfully and keep quiet.