A peak of the Góry Sokole (654 m a.s.l.) near Karpniki with the ruins of Sokolec Castle, 120 steps cut into the rock, and a cast-iron cross from 1830.
Krzyżna Góra is one of the two best-known peaks of the Góry Sokole, rising to 654 metres above sea level near Karpniki. The other recognisable summit of this range is the neighbouring Sokolik, a dozen or so metres lower. The mountain is covered with rock formations and blocks of Karkonosze granite, and its history goes back to the 19th century.
Krzyżna Góra is built of Karkonosze granite, and its summit and slopes hold a large concentration of rock formations, including Bukowa Skała and Grzęda. At the foot of the mountain, between it and Karpniki, stands the Szwajcarka mountain lodge, and just below the summit the remains of the former Sokolec Castle have survived.
In 1822 the Karpniki estate was bought by Prince Frederick William Charles von Hohenzollern. It was on his initiative that 120 steps were cut into the rock on Krzyżna Góra, leading to a viewpoint on the summit secured with a railing, next to which a flagpole was installed. Before that the hill had been called Sokola Góra.
The mountain owes its present name to a seven-metre cast-iron cross, funded by Princess Marianne of Hesse-Homburg to mark the anniversary of the birth of her husband, Frederick William von Hohenzollern. The cross was cast at a foundry in Gliwice in 1830 and consecrated on 28 May 1832.
Krzyżna Góra lies within the Rudawy Landscape Park, in the north-western part of the Rudawy Janowickie. The view from the summit over the valley and the surrounding hills was already described in the mid-19th century in one of the first Polish guidebooks to the Karkonosze (Giant Mountains).
Be the first! Add a comment.
You need to log in to add a comment.
Log in