Borówkowa, Mountain summit at Czech-Polish border, Czech Republic
Heidelkoppe is a mountain summit on the Czech-Polish border, topped by a stone observation tower. The tower looks out over the Bardo, Owl, and Jeseniky mountain ranges that stretch across both sides of the border.
A first observation tower was built on the peak in 1882 and was replaced twice over the following decades, with the last version dating to 1922. Until World War II, a mountain hut known as Schutzhaus Heidelkoppe offered shelter to walkers on the summit.
The summit was a meeting point in the 1980s where Czech and Polish activists gathered to support the Solidarity movement. These meetings happened discreetly and show how a remote peak can become a place of cross-border resistance.
The peak can be reached by marked hiking trails from both the Czech and Polish sides of the border. Weather at this elevation can change without much warning, so good footwear and a layer for the wind are worth bringing along.
Polish territory extends to the southern slope of this summit, even though the peak itself lies on the Czech side, which goes against the usual pattern for border lines in this region. This makes the border here one of the more unusual arrangements in Central Europe.
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