Lysa Góra

Łysa Góra (Bald Mountain) is a mountain peak in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, located in the eastern part of the Łysogóry mountain range in Nowa Słupia. It is protected as part of the Świętokrzyski National Park. It is the second highest peak in these mountains (behind Łysica). It was built of quartzite sandstones and cambrian shales.

At the top of Łysa Góra you can find a rock debris, which is characteristic for the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, the so-called gravel pit, a strict nature reserve with a fir-beech forest and the museum of the national park.

Łysa Góra is a system of tourist trails in this region. This is the place, where the blue tourist trail leading to Pętkowice begins. Through the mountain runs the Main Świętokrzyski Trail under the name of Edmund Massalski from Gołoszyce to Kuźniaki.

In the early part of the middle ages, Łysa Góra was probably a place of cult associated with Slavic religion.

According to legend, the local Benedictine Abbey was established Bolesławe I Chrobry in 1006. Since the 14th century it has been known as Święty Krzyż (The Holy Cross), because the relics of the tree of the cross, on which Jesus Christ was supposed to die, are kept here. They were gifted in the 11th century by st. Emeryk, son of king Stefan I of Hungary. From that moment on, it became one of the most important sanctuaries in Poland, as well as a destination of numerous pilgrimages. During the reign of the Jagiellons, it was the most important religious sanctuary in the
Polish Kingdom.