Map - Częstochowa

Częstochowa (, ; Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (administrative division) since 1999, and was previously the capital of the Częstochowa Voivodeship (1975–1998). However, Częstochowa is historically part of the Lesser Poland region, not of Silesia, and before 1795, it belonged to the Kraków Voivodeship. Częstochowa is located in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. It is the largest economic, cultural and administrative hub in the northern part of the Silesian Voivodeship.

The city is known for the famous Pauline monastery of Jasna Góra, which is the home of the Black Madonna painting, a shrine to the Virgin Mary. Every year, millions of pilgrims from all over the world come to Częstochowa to see it. The city also was home to the Jewish Frankist movement in the late 18th and the 19th century.

The city has undertaken excavation of an ancient site of Lusatian culture, and has a museum devoted to this. The ruins of a medieval Royal Castle stand in Olsztyn, approximately 25 km from the city centre (see also Trail of the Eagles' Nests).

The name of Częstochowa means 'Częstoch's place' and comes from a personal name of Częstoch, mentioned in the medieval documents also as Częstobor and Częstomir. Variations of the name include Czanstochowa used in 1220, and Częstochow used in 1382 and 1558. A part of today's city called Częstochówka was a separate municipality mentioned in the 14th century as the Old Częstochowa (Antiquo Czanstochowa, 1382) and Częstochówka in 1470–80. The city was also known in German as Tschenstochau and in Russian as Ченстохов (Chenstokhov).