Sleza Mountain

Sleza rises to 718 metres out of flat country south of Wroclaw, isolated enough to be visible from a long way across the Silesian plain, and that prominence is why it has been a cult site for a very long time. Stone ramparts of unclear date ring parts of the slopes, and scattered on the mountain and around it are carved granite figures - a boar, a bear or horse, a mushroom-shaped stone, a fish and a monk - along with many stones bearing a diagonal cross incised into them. Their age and purpose are argued: attributions run from the Celtic Iron Age to the early medieval period, and the crosses may be Christian markers cut into older pagan objects rather than original. The name gave Silesia its own. On the summit are a nineteenth-century chapel, a tower and a mountain hut. Beech and the surrounding landscape park make it a good walk in its own right.

What you actually see

• A lone prominent hill - visible far across the flat Silesian plain.
• Carved granite figures - boar, bear, fish and monk, with contested dating.
• Diagonal crosses - incised on many stones, possibly Christian marks on older objects.
• A summit chapel and tower - nineteenth-century, with a hut alongside.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Honest expectations

The dating of the figures is genuinely unsettled - confident claims either way are overstated. The summit is wooded and the tower gives the view. Weekend crowds from Wroclaw are heavy. The ascent is steep in places.

Nearby

Sobotka is at the foot; Wroclaw is north.