The City Remembers
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Oleśnicki Chapel
Beneath the frescoed dome lies a mysterious insurgent from the 1863 Uprising.
An early Baroque chapel built between 1611 and 1620, funded by castellan Mikołaj Oleśnicki as a family tomb. Later, Abbot Mirecki transferred the relics of the Holy Cross here, making it the heart of the cult.
Crazy factIn the crypt, alongside the coffins of magnates and Abbot Sierakowski, lies an unknown insurgent of the January Uprising of 1863.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5
1 min walk · 70 m
Gołoborze blockfield (Łysa Góra)
A sea of stone where witches were said to gather
The slopes of Łysa Góra are covered by a gołoborze — a field of bare quartzite boulders with almost no soil or trees. It is a relic of the Ice Age, when frost split the rock over millennia into a stone sea creeping down from the summit.
Crazy factThese boulders and the cult rampart on the summit lie at the heart of the old legend of the witches' sabbath on Bald Mountain.
1 min walk · 10 m
Missionary Museum at Holy Cross Monastery
Where the Bible speaks Eskimo and monastery walls remember a prison
- ticket to go inside
In the western wing of the former Benedictine abbey, the Oblate fathers have gathered objects from around the world. You'll find African jewelry, Japanese garments, and even taxidermy animals brought back by missionaries.
Crazy factThe museum holds a Bible in the Eskimo language — one of the most unexpected items in the missionary collection
Photo: Polimerek, CC BY-SA 3.0
1 min walk · 40 m
Holy Cross Basilica
Where the Jagiellons prayed before Grunwald and a fragment of the Cross is kept
Behind these walls lies Poland’s oldest sanctuary, visited seven times by Władysław Jagiełło and ten times by Casimir IV Jagiellon. The church combines remnants of a Romanesque foundation, Gothic expansions, and Baroque towers that withstood a Swedish plunder and an Austrian detonation.
Crazy factIn 1306, Władysław the Elbow-high gave the Benedictines relics of the True Cross, which legend says were a gift from the Hungarian prince Emeric.
Photo: Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 3.0
1 min walk · 40 m
Ciężkie Prison on Święty Krzyż
Poland's harshest prison, dubbed the 'Polish Sakhalin'
On Bald Mountain, where Benedictines had prayed for centuries, the Tsarist authorities set up a penal colony where 'wayward' priests froze and died from the harsh climate. Later, inmates wrote novels here and even staged an armed rebellion.
Crazy factIn 1925, prisoners led by ex-soldier Jan Kowalski seized weapons from the office and tried to break out, only to be stopped by locals and firefighters armed with guns from the warden's personal collection.
1 min walk · 80 m
Święty Krzyż
The mountain that gave its name to an entire province
A forested part of the town of Nowa Słupia, encompassing Łysa Góra. It is here, on the summit, that the ancient monastery complex stands, lending its name to both this place and the entire Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship.
Crazy factThe entire Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship takes its name from the Święty Krzyż mountain, around which this part of the town grew.
More stops (4)
1 min walk · 20 m
Nature Museum of the Świętokrzyski National Park
The last home of museum collections on the Holy Mountain, gone in 2026
- ticket to go inside
Housed in a former Benedictine abbey on Łysa Góra, the museum brought the mountains to life from 1972, showcasing everything from prehistoric fossils to glassworks. A complete multimedia makeover arrived in 2010, but sixteen years later the museum shut its doors, scattering its treasures across the region.
Crazy factSince July 2026, the museum has been closed: some exhibits moved to Bodzentyn, while the rest await a new Educational Centre in Nowa Słupia, scheduled to open in autumn 2028.
1 min walk · 60 m
Holy Cross Abbey
It holds the relics of the Holy Cross Tree, which gave the entire mountain its name.
The Benedictine abbey on Bald Mountain, founded by Bolesław the Wrymouth, became the most important sanctuary in the Kingdom of Poland under the Jagiellonians. Legend says the Hungarian prince Emeric donated the relics of the Holy Cross here.
Crazy factKing Władysław Jagiełło visited this abbey seven times, including on his way to the Battle of Grunwald.
Photo: SchiDD, CC BY-SA 4.0
3 min walk · 220 m
Święty Krzyż TV Tower
A concrete giant on Bald Mountain that sees half of Poland
This 157-metre tower, anchored into the rocky ground next to the monastery, has been broadcasting radio and TV signals across six voivodeships since 1966. Its heart is Soviet 'Tesla' equipment, and its voice carries nearly 150 kilometres.
Crazy factPrime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz personally broke the resistance of the Forestry Ministry and forest defenders, allowing the tower to be built within the national park.
Photo: Original uploader was Goku122, CC BY-SA 3.0
5 min walk · 340 m
Łysa Góra
A holy mountain where witches held sabbaths and kings came to pray
Łysa Góra in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains is a place where pagan stones stand beside a Christian shrine. The summit holds the remains of an ancient Slavic cult wall, while nearby stands a monastery with relics of the cross on which Christ is said to have died.
Crazy factConstruction of the pagan cult wall was abandoned after the adoption of Christianity — it remains unfinished to this day.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
