Sitno

Sitno (Hungarian Szitnya) is the highest peak of the Štiavnica Mountains at 1,009 m, close to the historic mining town of Banská Štiavnica in central Slovakia. It stands in the cadastre of the village of Ilija in the Banská Bystrica Region and dominates the landscape: on clear days it can be seen even from the Hungarian Mátra and Börzsöny. Sitno is regarded as the cradle of European mountain tourism: one of the first hiking clubs was founded here in the 19th century and, according to Hungarian sources, Europe's first marked hiking trail was painted here.

Geologically Sitno is the remnant of a solidified andesite lava flow that poured into a valley among softer volcanic tuffs in the Neogene; the flat summit platform is made of more resistant pyroxene andesite. Steep rock walls surround it on three sides, so it is accessible only from the north-east; on its north-western edge stands the Téry Tower — a crag of five- and six-sided andesite columns. The cliffs below the summit have climbing routes up to 80 m long.

Getting there / trails

• Green and blue markings — the «Sitno» nature trail from Počúvadlo lake; stairs lead from Tatárska lúka to the summit.
• Green markings from the village of Ilija.
• Blue markings — the «Andrej Kmeť Trail» from the village of Prenčov.

The climb has no technical difficulties and suits families. On the summit there are a lookout pavilion, a telecommunications tower and the Andrej Kmeť mountain hut, with a large wooden cross and a monument to the volunteers who mark hiking trails nearby.

The view

From the lookout pavilion the panorama takes in the Štiavnica Mountains and the ranges of central Slovakia: Pohronský Inovec, Vtáčnik, the Lesser and Greater Fatra, the Low Tatras, the Veporské vrchy, Poľana and Javorie, and to the south the Hungarian Börzsöny and Mátra.

History

The summit was settled in prehistory. Archaeologists uncovered a large 16-hectare hillfort of the Lusatian culture with a double ring of ramparts — the highest fortified settlement of this culture in Slovakia; people lived here around 1200–800 BC, and pottery, quern stones and bronze objects have been found. In the 13th century the stone castle of Sitno was built on the eastern slope, at about 840 m, to guard the approaches to the ore mines of Banská Štiavnica. In the 16th century it defended the central Slovak towns against the Ottomans, and in 1703–1710 it was destroyed by Kuruc insurgents.

In 1727 Andrej Jozef Koháry, owner of the manor at Svätý Anton, had a pavilion built on Sitno; the rebuilt lookout is dated 1736 and is considered the second-oldest in Slovakia. In 1852 it burned down after a lightning strike, and in the 1880s it was restored at the initiative of the physician Edmund Téry — the same man after whom the Téry hut in the High Tatras is named. Sitno is also linked to the legend of the Sitno knights, who sleep inside the mountain and will come to the nation's aid in its darkest hour.

Nature

As early as 1951 the summit was protected as the Sitno nature reserve (about 45 ha), within the Štiavnické vrchy Protected Landscape Area. Thermophilous and mountain plants grow side by side here — martagon lily, Carpathian saxifrage, yellow garlic — and the naturalist Andrej Kmeť described about 300 forms of wild roses on the mountain. The local roe deer, with dark, high-set antlers, are known as the «Sitno roe deer».

Safety

The summit cliffs are not fenced everywhere — keep children close. In an emergency call 112 or the Slovak Mountain Rescue Service (HZS): 18 300 (+421 18 300).

Photos: Michalsmr, CC BY-SA 4.0; Peko, CC BY-SA 3.0; Pe3kZA, CC BY-SA 4.0; Mineralysk, CC BY-SA 4.0; Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain — Wikimedia Commons.