Monuments & mounds

The Monument of the Uprising Act on St. Anne's Hill

Above the stone amphitheatre, on a limestone slope opposite the sanctuary of St. Anne, stands the Monument of the Uprising Act — a work by Xawery Dunikowski, unveiled on 19 June 1955 before crowds filling the amphitheatre walls. It is the principal site of commemorations of those who fell in the Silesian Uprisings and one of the best-known monuments in Silesia.

A quarry, a battle and the amphitheatre

Before the First World War a limestone quarry operated here, linked by a narrow-gauge horse railway — the "rosbanka" — to Zdzieszowice; lime kilns stood nearby, and one of them survives to this day. During the Third Silesian Uprising a bloody battle took place here — the Germans held St. Anne's Hill (then Anaberg). In 1934 the German authorities began rebuilding the quarry into an amphitheatre in honour of their fallen of 1921: 7,000 seats and standing room for 20,000. Above the amphitheatre, in 1938, a mausoleum was erected — a monumental, low rotunda with narrow windows modelled on medieval arrow slits. After the Red Army arrived in 1945 the mausoleum was blown up together with the sarcophagi inside.

Dunikowski's monument

It was here that Poles honoured the Polish insurgents — hence the idea for the monument. Since its unveiling in 1955 the amphitheatre and the monument have been the main stage of anniversary ceremonies.

Practical information

The site is open all year round, around the clock, with free admission and a free car park nearby. Address: Dunikowskiego Street on St. Anne's Hill (Góra Świętej Anny).