Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park - Czestochowa - Ogrodzieniec Castle

Route: Krakow - Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park - Czestochowa - Ogrodzieniec Castle - Krakow
Duration: 10 h
Firstly we will visit to the fantastic open-air folk park presents rural Silesian life through its aged architectural monuments. Since the late 60s, Chorzow ‘skansen’ has been rescuing endangered or forgotten Silesian structures by hoisting them up and dropping them in this makeshift village laid out over 20 hectares of idyllic countryside. Grouped into six ethnographic regions, visitors explore some 70 buildings dating from the late 18th to early 20th century, including traditional thatched-roof homes, granaries, historic wooden churches, wayside shrines, windmills and there’s even an old karczma (inn) where you can get a bite to eat and a beer. Many of the structures are open to enter and have unique historical exhibits inside.  One of the farms even has a few goats and horses, adding some extra magic to this romantic village of architectural artefacts saved from extinction. Next we will visit to Czestochowa which is world famous city for the Pauline monastery of Jasna Gora which is the home of the Black Madonna painting, a shrine of the Virgin Mary. Jasna Gora was founded in 1382 by Pauline monks who came from Hungary, the monastery withstood several sieges, including the legendary 40-day siege by the Swedes in 1655. Millions of pilgrims come to Czestochowa to see it every year. During our visit you will see the Jasna Góra hill, settled by the first Pauline Fathers in 1382 and the Jasna Góra Monastery (with four bastions: St. Barbara's, St. Roch's, St. James's Bastions and the Holy Trinity bastion), the Holy Virgin Mary Chapel - the Gothic Chapel with the Black Madonna picture, the Knights' Hall, parks near Jasna Gora, the Holy Virgin Mary Avenue, the Town Hall with Czestochowa Museum, the St. Sigismund's Church, the Holy Family Cathedral of Czestochowa Archdiocese. Next we will visit to the Ogrodzieniec Castle which  was built on the initiative of King Kazimierz in the 14th century before the Boner family enlarged and converted it into a Renaissance residence said to rival Wawel Castle beginning in 1532. Today Ogrodzieniec is a picturesque ruin eclipsing all others in the country and has been stabilised safely so that visitors can lose their orientation inside its maze of dead ends and dizzying vantage points – including two intact towers – over several levels. After we return to Krakow.
Price: per person