The Ślęża (; or ''Zobtenberg'', later also ''Siling'') is a high mountain in the Sudeten Foreland in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The mountain is built mostly of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

and is covered with forests. The top of the mountain has a PTTK tourist mountain hut, a television and radio mast, the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, some poorly-visible ruins of the castle and an observation tower. The area of the peak is protected as the Góra Ślęża nature reserve. The wide area around the mountain forms the Ślęża Landscape Park protected area.

Location

Ślęża is located in the territory of

Sobótka Sobótka (pronounced , ) is a town in Wrocław County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Sobótka. It lies approximately southwest of Wrocław on the northern ...

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship (, ) in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. It covers an area of and has a total population of 2,899,986. It is one of the wealthiest ...

in southern Poland, about southeast of

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

. Geomorphologically it is situated in the Ślęża Massif mesoregion of the Sudeten Foreland macroregion.

Sacred mountain

During the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

Period and at least as far back as the 7th century BC Mount Ślęża was a holy place of the tribes of the

Lusatian culture The Lusatian culture existed in the later Bronze Age and early Iron Age (1300–500 ) in most of what is now Poland and parts of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, eastern Germany and western Ukraine. It covers the Periods Montelius III (e ...

. It was then settled by

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

. The

Silingi The Silings or Silingi (; – ) were a Germanic tribe, part of the larger Vandal group. The Silingi at one point lived in Silesia, and the names ''Silesia'' and ''Silingi'' may be related.Jerzy Strzelczyk, "Wandalowie i ich afrykańskie państw ...

, a subpopulation of the East Germanic tribe known as the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

are the earliest inhabitants of Silesia known by their name, however the greater part of them moved westwards after the 5th century AD and the remainder were slowly replaced in the 6th century by Slavic tribes who assimilated the few remaining East Germanic inhabitants. The name of the territory

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

either derives from the Ślęza River, or from Mount Ślęża, which themselves derive their name from either, according to Germanist authors the Silingi people.Adrian Room "Placenames of the World", McFarland 2004m p.333
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or, according to Slavisist authors, the

Ślężanie The Silesians () were a tribe of West Slavs, specifically of the Lechitic tribes, Lechitic/Polish tribes, Polish group, inhabiting territories of Lower Silesia, near Mount Ślęża, Ślęża mountain and Ślęza river, on both banks of the Oder, u ...

people. The Slavic Ślężanie tribe settled in the area around the 6th century AD. In the 10th century,

Mieszko I Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was Duchy of Poland (966–1025), Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified History of Poland, Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was t ...

incorporated Silesia into the Polish state. The etymology of the mountain is highly disputed between a Slavic, Germanic, or other Indo-European origin. The name has been recorded in several forms, as monte Silencii, in 1108, or as monte Slez in 1245. Mount Ślęża was an ancient holy place for local Lusatian tribes dedicated to a sun deity, and remained a holy place during Christian times. In the first half of the 12th century, the owner of the place was the Polish dukes' governor, Piotr Włostowic, who founded there an Augustinian

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

which was subsequently moved to Wrocław in 1153.

Transmitter

On Ślęża there is a facility for FM- and TV-transmission, which uses a tall free-standing (with additional guying) lattice tower. The current tower which was built in 1972 replaced a tall tower built in 1957, which was partially guyed.

Gallery

Sleza-mapa szczytu.png, Map of the peak Poland mount Sleza - ancient cult figure.jpg, Ancient (probably Celtic) cult sculpture of a bear at the top of Slęża Kościół pw. Najświętszej Marii Panny na Ślęży.jpg, Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the top of Ślęża Ślęża z A4.JPG, Ślęża seen from the north, from the A4 motorway

References

External links