Jasna Góra

It is hard to believe but almost six years have passed since we have visited Częstochowa with my friends from Postcrossing.com. When we were there, we did not visit the shrine of Jasna Góra, the most important place for all Catholics in Poland. We will visit it today.

The road to the shrine is bordered by national flags of all the pilgrims. Every year, three million pilgrims visit Częstochowa.

The main entrance is decorated with the coat of arms of the Polish Pope John Paul II. Totus tuus means "All yours".

The shrine of Jasna Góra is surrounded by tall walls. They used to protect the monks and the treasures of the shrine from military attacks. In 1655 Jasna Góra was under siege, when Swedish army has invaded Poland. The fact that the shrine did not surrender was the pivotal point of the war. Today, the moat outside the wall includes the stations of the Road of Cross. As you walk around, you can withes Jesus Christ falling ...

... and dying.

The beating heart of the shrine is the basilica. Here is the main entrance. On top you can see two sundials. Unfortunately, they do not work on a rainy day.

The first basilica was built in the sixteenth century. It was rebuilt a number of times, last time in baroque style.

But the most important place in the basilica is the side chapel. It is always full of people.

 They all came with one thought in their minds - to place all their hope in the queen of Jasna Góra.

The miraculous painting of Our Lady of Jasna Góra is a national treasure. One of the Polish Kings has officially declared her the Queen of Poland. Her dark face gave her the nickname "the Black Madonna".

And if you do not believe in miracles, just look on the walls. All those crutches were left here by people who do not need them anymore.

The walls of Jasna Góra are filled with items that the pilgrims leave to Our Lady so that she gives them what they need the most. You can find there gold, silver and jewellery.

But also modest wooden rosaries. Because Virgin Mary cherishes rosary beyond all human treasures.

Baden

Today we will walk through the city of Baden, in the Swiss canton Aargau, by the river Limmat. Baden means literally Baths and is a reference to hot sulphur waters that were recognised already by ancient Romans who called Baden Aquae Helveticae or otherwise Swiss Waters.  

You can walk through the health spa park if you wish, its focal point is the Grand Casino. 

Next to it, you will find several nice buildings in a style that is very Swiss in my eyes.

Sick people tend to look for support everywhere. So you will not be surprised that besides going to the health spa, they also prey. Baden offers a wide variety of service, just to name a synagogue ...

... and churches of many Christian confessions, both large and small.

Those of you who like me have spent some time in Switzerland must have realised quite quickly that the main street in town is usually called "Train station street". Baden has its Bahnhofstrasse as well.

The entrance is guarded by a tower, quite similar to those that we have seen in Bern or in Zug.

The residential buildings along the Bahnhofstrasse are renovated and often house exclusive boutiques.

Many of them have a name. And a date. Yes, this is not a mistake, it definitely says 1430. How many houses made of brick were there in your hometown six hundred years ago?

On the top of the hill you will notice the ruins of a castle. The Stein castle has been in ruins for three hundred year now so I guess we can skip the climbing up the hill.

As we move along the downtown, you can see same building as in most Swiss cities - nicely maintained residential building with window blinds.

But there is one special building in Baden that I wanted to show you. It is called Villa Boveri.

Villa Boveri used to be the house of the family of Walter Boveri, the co-founder of the engineering company Brown Boverie Cie (now part of ABB Group).

Inside, the original decorations were maintained.

So can you sit in this cosy living room and imagine yourself as a passionate inventor in the middle of the industrial revolution.

But the most amazing thing about the Villa is the park that surrounds it.

You can walk down the lanes and listen to the water pouring slowly from many fountains.

The park houses several statues.

It is full of flowers, even in late autumn. I have seen gardeners planting new ones even now!

I think that living in Villa Boveri must have been a great experience. Today, it is operated by a foundation and you can come here any time - admission is free!

Why don't we take a break and enjoy this chilly but sunny afternoon in the lovely Villa Boveri Park.

Vindonissa

Today I will take you for a trip in time. We will move back to the times of the Roman Empire. You already know from our previous trips that the Roman Empire was very large.

We will begin our journey in the Swiss town called nowadays Windisch. Our aim will be to visit the Roman legion camp of Vindonissa.

The camp was large since a Roman legion would include between three and five thousand men. Not mentioning all the administration around them. This is what Vindonissa looked like when it was at its full splendour.

The round shape on the left was the theater. A bit like the Colosseum in Rome. Just smaller. The upper part was made of wood so today we can only see the foundations.

But if you look at one of the side entries and you close your eyes, you can easily imagine the gladiators who enter there to fight fiercely against other slaves or wild animals.

The theater was built with stones, found most probably in the neighbouring fields.

Because when you need to feed five thousand men, you need fields. But even more - you need water. And to bring water to their camps, Romans used aqueducts. One of them is still active today.

Obviously, it is no longer used by the local utilities (though it was two hundred years ago!) but the water is still moving inside the ancient pipes.

One interesting thing is that to build the aqueduct, which was several kilometers long, Romans used a special device called chorobates. The pendula allowed to ensure that it is standing straight.

The binoculars on the top allow to check if the other end of the pipe is in the right position.

Shall we check? Everything seems to be in order.

The main part of the camp was of course surrounded by a wall. To enter inside, one had to pass through a gate. The gates in Vindonissa were of course not as impressive as Porta Nigra, but still they inspired respect.

Of course, this is only a reconstruction. All that remains from the Southern gate are its foundations.

Inside the camp, the most prominent houses belonged of course to the military leaders, the centurions.

Unlike their soldiers who lived together, cooked themselves and generally did not enjoy much of luxury, the Roman officers had large houses with well equipped kitchens and slaves to take care of them.

If your imagination is not working today at full speed, you can always sneak into this magic binocular.

I hope that you have enjoyed our visit in Vindonissa. I was really impressed by the way the site is organised. I particularly appreciated all the visualisations. In one moment we can see the relief of the location ...

... a minute later this is the plan of the Roman legion camp ...

... that converts in a glimpse of an eye in the plan of modern Windisch.

A history that continues beyond the time and space.