Everything about P Mountain totally explained
Říp mountain (in
Czech) is a 459 m solitary hill rising up from the central
Bohemian flatland where, according to a legend, the first
Czechs settled down. Říp is located 25 km south-east of
Litoměřice,
Czech Republic.
Geologically, Říp is a remnant of a
tertiary volcano and is composed of
basalt nephelites containing
olivine granules,
amphibole,
leucite and — among others —
magnetite (a local
magnetic anomaly can even be observed on the hill). The hill was forestless until
1879 when Mořic Lobkowitz had it planted with trees. Today, almost all of the mountain is covered by an
oak-and-
hornbeam forest with some
maple,
pine ash and
linden trees. Some rare
thermophile plants can be found at the few tree-less places on the top of the hill, such as
Gagea bohemica or
Iris pumila.
Říp, being visible from great distance, has always been an important orientation point in the Bohemian scenery and attracted attention since the oldest times. The name of the mountain is of a pre-
Slavic origin and probably comes from the
Germanic stem *
rīp- which means "an elevation, a hill".
Legend
According to a traditional legend, first recorded by the ancient Czech chronicler
Cosmas of Prague in the early 12th century, it states Říp to be the place where the first
Slavs, led by
Praotec Čech (Forefather Bohemus), settled down. The land was named after the leader. In the
16th century the legend has been revived by
Václav Hájek of Libočany who claimed that Bohemus was buried in a nearby village
Ctiněves and, later on, by
Alois Jirásek in his
Old Bohemian Legends from
1894.
Buildings
On the top of the hill there's a
romanesque rotunda of
Saint George built by
Soběslav I in
1126 to commemorate his victorious
battle of Chlumec where he defeated
Lothair II. The top of Říp became a popular pilgrimage place and a frequent site of national manifestations and mass meetings. A famous manifestation was held here on
10 May 1868 when the foundation stone was taken up from the hill for the newly built
National Theatre in
Prague. The present appearance of the rotunda is the result of a purist reconstruction from
1870s.
Nearby the rotunda there was tourist hut, serving travellers still today, built in
1907. In accordance with the patriotic spirit of the time, a wooden plate is mounted on the hut wall, saying "What
Mecca is to a
Muhammad, Říp should be to a Czech!" (
Czech: "Co Mohammedu Mekka, to Čechu má být Říp!"). Inside the rotunda, there's a stone sculpture by the famous contemporary Czech artist Stanislav Hanzík (1979) The Good Shepherd that symbolizes the arrival of Czech ancestors to the country and beginning of the Czech history here.
Further Information
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