Licheń, located in the Wielkopolskie Province, is famous for Poland’s largest church, which is also one of the major Marian Sanctuaries.
Licheń is situated near the Warsaw-Poznań route, 16 km (10 mi) from Konin. In 1813, Virgin Mary appeared to a Polish legionnaire who had been severely wounded during the Battle of Leipzig. Mary told him to place an image of her in his homeland, near Lichen. The miraculous picture of Our Lady of Licheń, by an unknown painter from the 19th century, in front of which people prayed during a cholera epidemic, gave birth to a Marian cult which is still intensive today.
The monumental shrine of Our Lady of Licheń was built between 1994 and 2004 by the Marian Fathers. Poland’s largest church is a votive offering of thanksgiving and propitiation for the 2000 Jubilee. Built on a cross plan, it shows references to the calendar (365 windows and 52 doors) and facts from the life of Jesus Christ (33 steps of the main portico).
The size of the shrine is shown by impressive figures – area: 23,000 sq meters (74,460 square feet); length: 139 m (456 ft); nave height: 44m (144 ft), tower height: 141 m (463 ft). In the bell tower, there is a 14.7-ton red-bronze bell cast in Italy, which strikes noon every day.
Near one million pilgrims come to Lichen each year.
www.lichen.pl /English, Deutsch, Francais, Russian/
