THE BIGGEST HISTORICAL MOUNTAIN FORTRESS IN EUROPE

a view of the Ostróg Fort from the Warowna mountain 

I had no idea that a place only 70km away of Wroclaw was a witness to events of world-importance. Even though it happened 200 years, it is still very interesting. I am talking about the biggest mountain fortress in Europe, namely the fortress and village of Srebrna Góra (Festung Silberberg, Silver Mountain). 

/www.forty.pl/

Donjon - the main part of the Srebrna Góra fortress

In middle ages the place called Silberberg was often hit by military confrontations, at first by the Hussite Wars, later also by the Thirty Years' War, which left the area devastated. Being Silesian, then Bohemian, it was finally annexed by King Frederick II of Prussia after the First Silesian War with Austria in 1742. He wanted have a protection against Austrians, so he decided to build a border fortress of the Prussian Army, which was finished in 1778.

the plan of the Festung Silberberg (Srebrna Góra Fortress)

The fortress was constructed on the Silver Mountain Pass by 4,000 workers. The huge Silberberg Fortress guarded the passage to the Kłodzko Valley and consisted of six forts and several forest bastions. It is one of the most interesting examples of Polish military architecture.  Its main building is a big Donjon. There were 150 casemates (fortress rooms) located on three floors.  There were huge storehouses, nine wells, a chapel, prison, hospital, bakery, brewery, craft workshops and a gunpowder mill. It held  3,756 soldiers with enormous stocks of ammunition, food and firewood.  The soldiers had 264 mortars for the defence. Sounds really impressive!!!

/www.forty.pl/

Unfortunately the Napoleonic army lay siege to  the fortress in 1807 and as a consequence  the town underneath was almost completely destroyed.

main entrance that leads to Donjon

Donjon

Donjon

Can you spot the icicles? 

Napoleon soldiers;-)

near the High Rock Fort

peeping into the High Rock Fort inside

The picturesque village of Srebrna Góra was founded in the 14^th century as a mining settlement by Saxonian miners, who came to explore the silver deposits. At the beginning of the 16^th century it stopped being profitable, but still now it is possible to visit the well-hidden mining drifts. 

colourful houses and the catholic church behind

Napoleon and Protestant church in Rest Square

Mr Napoleon resting ;-)

Protestant church and the fortress far away in the background

Currently, the place boasts of interesting urban layout in a triangle shape stretched out along a steep valley . The fortress build on Warowna Mountain at the height of 686m above the sea level in a narrow valley separating Bardzkie Mountains from Owl Mountains  overlooks the village in a very dignified mannerJ. The views are breathtaking , the walking routes  interesting, the landscape – really lovely and after all that you can enjoy a nice picnic inside the fortress:)

The view on the Srebrna Góra village from the fortress

The Ostróg fort

Opening hours of the Srebrna Góra fortress:

10:00-18:00 /April-September/

10:00-16:00  /October-March/

Holiday weekends: 10:00-19:00

Official website of the fortress


Photos by K. Szostak - all rights reserved

LEŚNICA - MY LITTLE MOTHERLAND (1)

It will be ten years this May since we moved over here to live in the most special place in Wrocław called Leśnica (the western outskirts of the city, in German Deutsch Lissa). A lot has changed since then and how I wish now I had been taking many more photos of the place which I adore so much and which has become my little motherland. You pass the same streets and paths everyday and just take it for granted that they will always look like that. You don not even know when, suddenly, new buildings appear and the green remote fields and meadows vanish into oblivion, old buildings are pulled down or get renovated and,all of a sudden, you are not able to remember what they looked like before. They are just inside you, you can feel them and the general atmosphere, but if you want to share the feelings it would be much easier to have some more concrete sources. Again, you realize that everything is so fleeting…

Map of Wrocław with Lesnica marked in green (from Wikipedia)

When we moved here in 2002 from a posh district in the south of Wrocław, the people either did not know where Leśnica was or they could not believe that we had changed living in one of the most luxurious districts into going to such a remote, unknown and neglected area. To get to our place you need to walk about 1km from the main bus and tram terminus or take a bus, if you are lucky, because it runs very rarely. At the beginning, it only added to the attraction of living here, because on both sides of our street there was nothing, but green fields, meadows, bushes, woods and some half-legal allotments. It was like entering a completely new world – after the hustle and bustle of the busy Wrocław, in Leśnica, when you passed the main Średzka street, you suddenly entered the slow-paced realm of silence and greenery, an avenue of beautiful old linden trees. Besides, to get to our street first you have to go past the stunning and recently renovated castle and a beautiful park – very quiet and relaxing as not too many people appear there (those from the city do not know about it or it is too far for them and the locals probably have not enough time or do not see anything special there). 

a fragment of the Leśnica castle and the sorrounding park (photo by K. Szostak)

Unfortunately, the peace and quiet of my street disappeared after a few years with more and more blocks of flats which replaced the wild fields.  Still, opposite my place, in just a few metres it is possible to enter the green lungs of Wrocław – Las Mokrzański (The Mokrzański forest) and go jogging, cycling or hiking there, do Nordic walking or just explore the Kirschberg (cherry mountain) aka Goering’s Park and search for the remnants of the amazing pre-war  mansion of Frau Breugmann – the owner of shoe factory, who used to fly her own plane to get to work in Wrocław (!), with huge gardens, fountains and pools in the past, nowadays almost completely covered by the forest.  The wide avenue of dignified hornbeam trees, appearing totally out of the blue when you enter the forest line in an appropriate place is absolutely breathtaking!!!!

View on the high street with the castle on the left and the water tower in the backgound
(from Wikipedia)

I was going to write about the amazingly rich history of Leśnica which dates back to the beginnings of the Polish state in the 10^th century and which hosted almost all Silesian dukes as well as Czech and Prussian kings, but somehow I let it go with the flow and wrote about other things. But I will definitely come back, because this place is extremely fascinating!!!!!