“Jasna Góra – the Spiritual Capital of Poland”
Narodowy Bank Polski is putting into circulation silver collector coins of the series “In Poland I believe”.
NarodNarodowy Bank Polski has announced that silver collector coins “Jasna Góra – the Spiritual Capital of Poland” of the series “In Poland I believe” will be available for sale as of tomorrow.
The coin with a face value of 10 złoty is made of 925 purity silver, has the diameter of 32.00 millimetres and weighs 14.14 grams. It has been minted in up to 9,000 pieces. The coins are sold at all the NBP regional branches and in the NBP online shop Kolekcjoner at the price of PLN 260.
The reverse of the coin features an image of a family in the style of a child’s drawing and an image of the Monastery on Jasna Góra from the east side in the background. The obverse bears an image of Mary’s crown from the painting of Our Lady of Jasna Góra, donated by Saint John Paul II, as well as a fragment of the quotation from the Act of Re-election of Our Lady as the Queen of Poland by Polish Bishops in 1920.
The Shrine of Our Lady on Jasna Góra has served as a unique site of the Marian cult in the Polish land for over six centuries. The origins of Jasna Góra go back to the foundation of the Pauline Monastery by Duke Vladislaus II of Opole in 1382 on a hill near Częstochowa. Two years later, the founder brought a painting of Our Lady with the Christ Child – already an object of veneration then – from Ruthenia, and committed it to the monks’ care. The introduction of this extraordinary image was probably associated with the arrival, from Hungary to Poland, of young Jadwiga of Angevin, who was crowned king of Poland in 1384. According to sources, it was in 1388 that the site of worship began to be called Jasna Góra.
In 1393, King Ladislas Jagiełło, on behalf of his wife Jadwiga and himself, re-founded the Jasna Góra Monastery. He also funded the renovation of the miraculous painting, damaged during a raid on the monastery in 1430. The fame of the site kept growing and during the reign of the Jagiełło and Vasa dynasties the shrine was enlarged and embellished. Sigismund Vasa and Ladislas Vasa erected fortifications surrounding the monastery, owing to which the site became known as Fortalitium Marianum.
After the famous defence of the monastery against the Swedes in 1655, Jasna Góra took on a special meaning of the spiritual capital of the Polish nation. On 1 April 1656 in Lviv, King John Casimir Vasa proclaimed Our Lady the Queen of Poland and commended the inhabitants of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to her protection. The Jasna Góra Shrine was established as the symbolic throne of Mary the Queen of Poland.
A truly momentous event in the history of the shrine took place on 8 September 1717. It was the first coronation of the miraculous image of Our Lady with papal crowns to be performed outside the territory of Italy. During the partitions, Jasna Góra, still keenly venerated by the Poles, was a place where they sought consolation and hope. In the 20th century, the history of the country’s spiritual capital was strongly influenced by the ministry of the Primate of Poland, Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, who made the cult of Our Lady of Jasna Góra the core of the entire pastoral programme for the country, and by the pontificate of the Pope, Saint John Paul II , who went on the pilgrimage to the Shrine of Częstochowa six times during his apostolic travels. Jasna Góra – visited each year by millions of pilgrims from Poland and numerous countries of the world – is today one of the biggest sites of the Marian cult in the Church at large.
More information can be found in the brochure.
NBP collector coins and banknotes are sold in commercial packaging with an attached certificate.
The next issue is scheduled for 12 June 2025. On that day Narodowy Bank Polski will be putting into circulation a gold coin with a face value of 500 złoty and a silver coin with a face value of 10 złoty – “Hetmans of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth” – “Stanisław Żółkiewski”.
Contact:
Contact for collectors: e-mail kolekcjoner@nbp.pl, tel. +48 22 185 17 05
Contact for the media: e-mail press@nbp.pl, tel. +48 22 185 2012
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About NBP
Narodowy Bank Polski holds the exclusive right to issue banknotes and coins in Poland. All currency issued by NBP, including collector banknotes and coins, is legal tender in Poland. Issuing collector items is an occasion to commemorate important historic figures and anniversaries as well as to develop the interest of the public in Polish culture, science and tradition.
High-resolution images of the coins: https://nbp.pl/en/coins-and-banknotes/collector-coins/catalogue/