Amphitheatre on Góra Świętej Anny (St Anne's Mountain)

Stone terraces cut into a former limestone quarry were meant to hold 7,000 seated and 20,000 standing spectators. The amphitheatre on Góra Świętej Anny was built by the Nazis in the 1930s as a stage for propaganda rallies, with a mausoleum to German fighters of 1921 set above it. Today the granite pylons of Xawery Dunikowski's Monument to the Silesian Insurgents rise over the seating – and this collision of two eras makes the site one of the clearest places to grasp Upper Silesia's tangled history.

History: from quarry to Thingplatz

Before the First World War limestone was quarried here – the pit was called Krowiok (German Kuhtal, "cow valley"), and lime kilns stood nearby; one of them survives. In May 1921, during the Third Silesian Uprising, when Polish insurgents fought for the region to join Poland, heavy fighting took place around the hill, which in the end remained on the German side.

In 1934–1936 the disused pit became a Thingplatz – an amphitheatre for mass Nazi events designed by the Berlin architects Franz Böhmer and Georg Petrich, the first of its kind in Silesia. In 1936–1938 a mausoleum by Robert Tischler was built on the cliff edge for 51 Freikorps members killed in the 1921 fighting – a low stone rotunda with a hall cut into the rock. In 1945 sappers blew up the mausoleum, and in 1955 the Monument to the Silesian Insurgents was unveiled in its place.

What to see

• The seating – stone terraces of limestone, in places showing fossils, and a small stage at the bottom of the former pit.
• The Monument to the Silesian Insurgents – four pylons of granite blocks topped by an architrave, with reliefs including insurgents going into battle and protesting workers.
• The surviving lime kiln – a reminder of the site's industrial past.
• The view from the edge of the monument over the valleys of the Góra Świętej Anny Landscape Park.

Interesting facts

Beneath the monument, extensive underground rooms cut into the slope for the German mausoleum have survived, and bats now spend the winter in the amphitheatre's drainage tunnels. Dunikowski's relief programme was changed under political pressure – which is why the insurgents are joined by scenes of the Red Army and the Polish People's Army, and even an inscription "Niemcza 950", although Niemcza belonged to Bohemia at the time. The amphitheatre and monument form part of the cultural and natural landscape of Góra Świętej Anny, declared a national Historic Monument in 2004.

Tripto tip

The amphitheatre is open ground with no ticket office or fee, accessible at any time. Allow 30–45 minutes to walk round the seating and the monument. The terraces are uneven and the edges steep, so wear sturdy shoes, especially after rain. There is parking near the monument. During ceremonies and concerts parts of the site may be closed. It is easy to combine with St Anne's Sanctuary and its Calvary of 40 chapels, the Lourdes grotto and the Museum of the Silesian Uprisings in the so-called Polish House – all within a short walk.