Skála smrti, Rock wall monument in Kunratice u Cvikova, Czech Republic.
Skála smrti is a 15-meter tall sandstone cliff face above the Svitavka River, carved with reliefs showing a mounted knight and a falling girl. The rock formation rises naturally from the riverbank and provides a dramatic vertical surface for these sculpted figures.
The relief was carved in 1910 by two retired Kunnersdorf officials, Karl Beckert, a former head teacher, and Karl Bundesmann, a former gendarmerie sergeant, both local residents rather than members of any mountain association. The same pair later made the Körner relief at Dutý kámen (Hohlstein). The site by the Svitávka, formerly called Müllerloch, was already known for its setting before the carving.
The carved figures tell the story of a miller's daughter who jumped from the cliff to escape an unwanted suitor and survived, while a knight fell to his death. This local legend is literally etched into the rock and binds folklore deeply to the place itself.
The marked path starts at the southern underpass of the Svitavka stream on the south edge of Kunratice u Cvikova and covers about 700 metres to the relief on the north bank. It passes several tunnels and caves cut into the rock; the largest is walkable and once yielded grinding sand for the village mirror workshop.
The largest of the rock-cut cavities by the path is said to have supplied grinding sand for the mirror-polishing workshop once based in the village. The hollow is walkable, and the tool marks on its walls show how the sandstone was worked.
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