ABSTRACT
Pilgrimage in Poland has been deeply influenced by its partition at the end of the eighteenth century and incorporation within the Austrian, Prussian and Russian empires as well as by border changes and political transformations during the twentieth century. This chapter focuses on Roman Catholic pilgrimage, its changes and developments within last two centuries and on its stance within contemporary Poland where the Marian shrine of Czestochowa holds a prime position. The development of new pilgrimages expresses not only the dynamism but also signals changes in contemporary religious practices of Polish people. The dawn of the twentieth century and the creation of the Polish Republic in 1918 brought about the rebuilding of Polish universities and scholarly institutions alongside the development of the social sciences. Numerous sociologists and anthropologists became interested in issues related to religious studies, including analyses of Polish Catholicism as well as other denominations and religions present within the borders of newly independent Poland.
