Osówka

Osówka is a mountain in the Owl Mountains, rising to 716 metres above sea level, known above all for the extensive underground complex hidden beneath it, dating from the Second World War. It is one of the most frequently visited sites of the secret German Project Riese in Lower Silesia.

A mountain in the Owl Mountains

Osówka, in German Säuferhöhen, lies in the Central Sudetes, in the Owl Mountains range. It is built of Precambrian gneisses and rises about 16 metres above the surrounding terrain. It is covered by spruce forest with an admixture of deciduous trees.

Secret Project Riese

Construction of the underground complex beneath the mountain began in mid-1943. A system of concrete corridors, fortifications and halls was built, forming part of Riese, a secret undertaking of the Third Reich. The true purpose of the construction was never conclusively established; there is speculation that it was intended, among other things, as a headquarters for Adolf Hitler. The construction used the forced labour of prisoners from the AL Säuferwasser subcamp, a branch of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, located in the Kłobia valley below the mountain.

What you'll see underground

The complex has two entrances on the south-eastern side. Underground, corridors and passages connecting individual chambers have survived, along with traces of a narrow-gauge railway track and the foundations of prisoner barracks. At the foot of the mountain there are also remains of post-war uranium mining from the 1950s.

Visiting routes

The site is open to tourists, and tours are run by the company Podziemne Miasto Osówka, with its administrative office at Grunwaldzka 20 in Głuszyca. The underground passages can only be visited with a guide, and the routes differ in character.

• The Historical Route, with multimedia presentations, holograms and documentary films
• The Extreme Route, leading in part by boat and along wooden footbridges, by torchlight
• The Retro Route, visited only in dim torchlight, evoking the first post-war expeditions into these underground passages
• The Educational Route, combining a walk through the forest with a visit underground, designed with the youngest visitors in mind
• The Path of Remembrance, dedicated to commemorating the victims of the Second World War connected with this place

Nearby

A few kilometres away, in the same Owl Mountains range, lies another site from Project Riese: the Riese Włodarz underground complex beneath Mount Włodarz. It is also worth visiting the range's highest peaks, Wielka Sowa and Mała Sowa, which lie within the Owl Mountains Landscape Park.

Practical information

• Locality: Głuszyca, near Sierpnica
• Getting there: the site lies in the Owl Mountains, the entrance to the underground passages is marked as the office of the Podziemne Miasto Osówka company
• What to expect: a wartime underground complex, visited only with a guide, and the mountain itself, covered in spruce forest
• Open all year round, but opening hours vary by day of the week, so it is worth checking them on the website before a visit