A former mountain hut from 1912 on Kozia Góra in Bielsko-Biała, known as Stefanka, formally a tourist facility since 2023.
The Kozia Góra Mountain Hut (Schronisko na Koziej Górze), long known as Stefanka, stands at an altitude of 676 metres above sea level in the Silesian Beskids, within Bielsko-Biała, not far from Szyndzielnia. The building is over a hundred years old and for decades served hikers from the town. Since 2023 it is no longer listed in official registers as a mountain hut but as a tourist facility, yet it still operates as a place for meals and overnight stays.
The origins of the building go back to the end of the 19th century. After a gale which around 1885 destroyed large stretches of forest, a small house was built here in which forest workers could take shelter. In 1909 the building was taken over by the Society for the Promotion of Tourism (Towarzystwo Popierania Ruchu Turystycznego) of Bielsko and Biała, and in 1912 it converted it into a mountain hut, called Rodelhütte in German.
In 1921 the municipality of Bielsko transferred the hut to the German organisation Beskidenverein. Five years later it was extended, and among other things a veranda and an unusual rotunda-shaped room were added. The building served mainly German tourists, who used the sledding run that led from here as far as Cygański Las. The Poles then spoke of the hut by the Run (nad Torem), and later Stefanka, after the nearby gazebo Steffansruhe with a plaque dedicated to Karl Steffan, president of the Beskidenverein and mayor of Bielsko.
During the occupation it was one of the few huts in the country where speaking Polish was permitted. After the war the building was badly devastated. It was taken over by the Polish Tatra Society and then by PTTK. In 1970-1975 it was converted into a student hut of the University of Silesia, and in the 1990s it underwent a major renovation.
According to the description, the hut had 30 beds in rooms for two, five and six people. The building runs a buffet and serves full board, and in front of it there is a clearing with tables, benches and a campfire shelter. The building's website describes home cooking, including cakes, and rooms with bunk beds.
In March 2023 the Bielsko-Biała City Council changed the wording in a resolution: the word “mountain hut” was replaced with “tourist facility”. The reason was that Stefanka does not appear in the register of mountain huts kept by the voivodeship marshal.
The green trail from Cygański Las in Bielsko-Biała to Kozia Góra leads to Stefanka. A blue connecting trail also runs through the area, linking the yellow trail from Cygański Las to Szyndzielnia with the red trail from the Ondraszek campsite through Bystra to the hut on Klimczok.
Not far from Kozia Góra lies Szyndzielnia, about 3.3 kilometres in a straight line. On its summit stands the PTTK mountain hut on Szyndzielnia, and the summit is reached by a cable car, whose lower station is about 2.2 kilometres from Stefanka.
About 4.4 kilometres from here lies Klimczok, where there is also a mountain hut.
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