Rock Shelter below the Summit of Zielona Góra

The shelter below the summit of Zielona Góra is a rock cave shelter in the forest on the Zielona Góra hill, in the village of Kusięta in Olsztyn municipality. It lies slightly below the summit, within a nature reserve.

What it looks like

The shelter is formed by one large chamber, entirely hidden beneath a great rock overhang and open along its whole length to the east, towards a gentle slope. It is 12 m long, 9 m wide and 3 m high. The interior is dry and light, and freezes through in winter. At the back there is a low niche reaching up to 6 m into the rock, and on the other side of the chamber there are two blind recesses, one of which takes the form of a narrow passage 4 m long. The shelter formed in Jurassic limestone and has no dripstone formations.

History of exploration

The shelter has been known for a long time. It was first described in 1937 by Kazimierz Maślankiewicz, who noted that almost all the walls and the ceiling were covered with inscriptions carved or painted by visitors. These inscriptions were catalogued in 1951 by Kazimierz Kowalski. Near the floor, in the upper part of the chamber, a small passage dug out by calcite seekers can also be seen.

The surroundings

The shelter stands by a tourist trail on the eastern side of the belt of rocks below the summit. On the opposite side of these rocks is the entrance to the Cave in Zielona Góra. The whole lies in the Zielona Góra nature reserve, so the rules of nature conservation apply there. A few kilometres away stands Olsztyn Castle.

Practical information

• Village: Kusięta, Olsztyn municipality, Częstochowa County.
• Reached by the tourist trail below the summit of Zielona Góra; check the colour of the trail and the starting point on a current map.
• Before your visit, check the rules for moving about the reserve.