Mount Ślęża

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Ślęża

View from north-west
Elevation 718 m (2,356 ft)
Location
Location Poland
Range Masyw Ślęży
Coordinates 50°51′54.061″N 16°42′31.741″E / 50.86501694°N 16.70881694°E / 50.86501694; 16.70881694
Topo map Slezabasic.png

Ślęża [ˈɕlɛ̃ʐa] (German: Zobten or Zobtenberg, also Silingi) is a mountain in the Sudetes foothills (Polish: Przedgórze Sudeckie) in Lower Silesia, 30 km (19 mi) from Wrocław, southern Poland. This natural reserve built mostly of granite is 718 m high and covered with forests.

The top of the mountain has a PTTK tourist Mountain hut, a TV and radio mast, church Mary, poorly visible ruins of the castle and observation tower. The mountain and its surrounding region form the protected area called Ślęża Landscape Park.

Contents

[edit] Sacred mountain

Ślęża
Ancient (probably Celtic) cult sculpture of a bear at the top of Mount Slęża
The church at the top

During the Neolithic Period and at least as far back as the 7th century BC Mount Ślęża (Zobten) was a holy place of the heathen tribes of the Lusatian culture.[citation needed] It was then settled by the Celtic-Germanic Lugians[citation needed] The Silingi, a subpopulation of the East Germanic tribe known as the Vandals are the earliest inhabitants of Silesia known by their name, however the greater part of them moved westwards by the 5th century A.D. and the remainder were slowly replaced in the 6th century by Slavic tribes ("people of the plain").[1] The Silingi were part of the Przeworsk culture[citation needed] The name of the territory Silesia either derives from the Sleza River, or from Mount Ślęża.[2] The hill itself was a religious center of the Silingi, and derives its name from them.[2][3]

The slavic Ślężanie tribe settled in the area when Silesia became a part of Greater Moravia, and then of Bohemia (part of the Holy Roman Empire). Duke Boleslaw I of Poland, a fiefholder of the Holy Roman Empire, conquered Silesia in the 990s, but lost it again to Bohemia, also a part of the empire. As Silencia, recorded by Thietmar of Merseburg, or Silesia, the Latin version, was in earlier German sources written as Slesia, from which developed the High German version Schlesien. Christianity came first via Cyril and Methodius and Regensburg, then in the 10th century Bohemia received a bishopric, Prague, which was subject to the archbishopric of Mainz.

Mount Zobten/Sleza has ancient Germanic holy places dedicated to a sun deity, and remained a holy place during Christian times as well. In the first half of the 12th century, the owner of the place was Danish Peter Wlast Dunin, (Polish: Piotr Włostowic), who founded there an Augustinian convent which was subsequently moved to Wrocław in 1153.

In 1148 the mountain is recorded as Mons Silecii.

[edit] Etymology

Peak part of the mountain

The Silesians may have been named after the Silingi, though this etymology is disputed; the word is perhaps derived from a Silesian word meaning "wet swampy place".

The current names of the Ślęza river and Mount Ślęża are based on Silesian origins, although the Ślęza is spelled with a standard Z and Mount Ślęża is spelled with a Ż diacritic. Names are based on earlier German documentation as Slesia.

[edit] Ślęża in art and culture

Mount Ślęża has been portrayed in the famous but atypical manner of Polish independent film (in Poland called Polskie Kino Niezależne) Edi800 in the movie Ślęża Manekin Project III. More info at: http://www.manekin.org/manekin.html http://www.edi800.org/

[edit] Transmitter

On Ślęża there is a facility for FM- and TV-transmission, which uses a 136 metre tall free-standing (with additional guying) lattice tower. The current tower which was built in 1972 replaced a 98 metre tall tower built in 1957, which was partially guyed.

[edit] Broadcasts

[edit] TV

Programme Frequency No of canals Emission
TVP1 Telewizja Polska S.A. 223,25 MHz 12 100 kW
TVP2 Telewizja Polska S.A. 503,25 MHz 25 1000 kW
POLSAT Telewizja Polsat S.A. 775,25 MHz 59 800 kW
TVP3 Wrocław Telewizja Polska S.A. Oddział we Wrocławiu 639,25 MHz 42 800 kW

[edit] Radio

Programme Frequency Emission power
Radio Maryja Prowincja Warszawska Zgromadzenia O.O. Redemptorystów 88,90 MHz 120 kW
Radio ZET Radio ZET Sp. z o.o. 93,60 MHz 120 kW
PR2 Polskie Radio S.A. 98,80 MHz 120 kW
PR3 Polskie Radio S.A. 100,20 MHz 120 kW
Radio Wrocław Polskie Radio - Regionalna Rozgłośnia we Wrocławiu "Radio Wrocław" S.A. 102,30 MHz 120 kW
Radio ESKA Wrocław Radio ESKA S.A. 104,90 MHz 60 kW

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ T. Hunt Tooley "National Identity and Weimar Germany: Upper Silesia and the Eastern Border", 1997 University of Nebraska Press, ISBN 0-8032-4429-0 p.6 (Google Books)
  2. ^ a b Adrian Room "Placenames of the World", McFarland 2004m ISBN 0-7864-1814-1 p.333 (Google books)
  3. ^ Anthony Richard Birley, "Agricola and Germany" 1999, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-283300-6 p.130 (Notes to pages 56-60) (Google books)

[edit] External links

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