Metravel city quest
City Sobotka: free walking route “Ślęża quest: the Silesian Olympus” along the sights. 8 points. Approximately 5 h. Quests and legends - straight from your
A thousand years ago the chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg wrote of the mountain you are facing: “This mountain was held in great reverence by all the inhabitants because of its size and purpose, for accursed pagan rites were performed upon it.” This is the first written mention of Ślęża — and one of the first mentions of Silesia itself: both the region and the Ślężan tribe who lived here took their names from this mountain.
Ślęża — a solitary granite cone, 718 metres high, thrust up above the plain — was sacred long before the Slavs: a sun cult existed here in the Bronze Age, three thousand years ago. It is called the Silesian Olympus, and with good reason: ancient stone ramparts still encircle the summit, separating the sacred from the everyday, while granite idols stand on the slopes, prompting fierce scholarly arguments about who carved them: Lusatian sun worshippers? Celts? A mysterious sign is carved into the idols, and it has two mutually exclusive explanations — you will choose yours along the way.
The mountain’s temperament is divine too: it “gives birth to storms”. A cap of cloud, sudden thunderstorms — lightning destroyed the summit castle in 1543 and burnt down the church in 1834. According to the main scholarly explanation, the name Ślęża itself comes from the old word “ślęg” — dampness, moisture. So bring a raincoat, water and proper footwear: a real climb lies ahead — five and a half kilometres one way, with more than half a kilometre of ascent.
The route: from St Anne’s shrine with the first idol, through Sobótka’s Market Square and museum to the “Monk” idol, then uphill on the red trail, past the massif’s most mysterious figure and through the ancient ramparts — to the summit, the bear, the church and a view across half the country.
We start at the northern edge of Sobótka, at St Anne’s shrine.
The route points in order — what these places are and why they are interesting. Tasks and answers stay inside the quest.
Your first encounter with the mountain’s ancient masters awaits beside the east wall of St Anne’s shrine.
Head a few hundred metres south, downhill to Sobótka’s Market Square. The town has always lived from the mountain: first from pilgrims to the sanctuary, then from pilgrims to the monastery, now from tourists climbing to the summit.
On St James’s Street, in the “Abbot’s House” of 1568 — a former Augustinian hospital — is the Ślęża Museum.
At the edge of town, beside the road to the Tourist House, stands the third ancient stone resident — the “Monk”.
Here is the true beginning of the climb.
Half the climb is behind you — and here she is, the route’s main encounter. Right beside the red trail in the forest stands a granite figure without a head or legs: a long robe, arms pressed to her body, and in her hands something that gave her her popular name.
Just before the summit, the trail crosses bands of loose stone — these are the ancient ritual ramparts: not defences, but a boundary. Inside is the sacred; outside, the everyday.
The final hundred metres lead south of the church to the concrete lookout tower. It is older than it looks: a triangulation tower from the early 20th century, with three levels, repaired and reopened in 2016 — free to climb, around the clock.
This route is part of Metravel city quests. Below are the other quests in this city and cities with quests nearby.