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(Mittelsberg, called Mount Kościuszko in the 50s). Apart from the circle around the very top of Ślęża, there are also some other constructions on it, including a “half-moon-shaped embankment” in the middle of its slope. There is also a uniąue group of impressive stone sculptures in the area. It is most intriguing that some of them, as well as movable stone blocks and rocks, bear the sign of St Andrew’s cross. In Będkowice at the foot of Ślęża an early medieval stronghold and barrows were discovered. The nearby Sobótka is mentioned as a market place as early as in the mid 12th c. In the 12th c. (the exact datę is disputed) a monastery of Regular Canons was founded on the top of Ślęża, but at the end of that century the monks left the place, retaining their nearby estates. Later the mountain borę a cha-telaine stronghold and a castle. From the archaeological point of view Ślęża is a multi-culture site, used sińce the time of the Lusatian culture until now. This fact inspired the thesis that the sanctuary on the “Silesian Olympus” came to being several centuries B.C., when the stone walls on the three peaks of the massif were supposed to have been built (Korta, 1988; SSS, vol. 5, p. 325-326; vol. 7, p. 442-443).

The thesis - promoted by many Polish historians - is undermined by the fact that the Slavs appeared in their historical settlement region rather late, probably in the period of the migration of nations, and by the exclusive mention about the sanctuary coming from Thietmar. The altemative is to accept the medieval origin of the cult centre on Ślęża. Neither German nor Polish excavations have resulted in conclusive dating of the walls of Ślęża (Słupecki, 1992). The finds of Lusatian culture pottery do not prove that the walls had been built by the peoples of that culture, as the crusts might got there with the soil and stones during the construction of the walls. Nevertheless, the supporters of the thesis about the earlier-than-medieval origin of the sanctuary can base on two serious pieces of evidence. On Ślęża there are some impressive stone sculptures. The most magnificent one is thę so-called “Maiden with a fish,” reaching 2.2 m in height. It representt a human figurę, holding in both hands a large object marked with St Andrew’s cross. A comparable size is reached by the “Boar” and “Bear,” both marked with St Andrew’s cross. Around 1820 near St Anne’s church in Sobótka a fragment of sculpture buried in the ground was found. It iś called the “Mushroom” and has remained there until now. It constitutes a lower part of a lifesize human figurę, with conspicuous robę folds. Also on this sculpture St Andrew’s cross has been engraved. Finally, there are also some other sculpture fragments. Thus, they can be divided into anthropomorphic and zoomorphic. One divergent example is a non-iconic skittle, called “the Monk from Garncarsko,” an exact copy of a milestone set in Konin by Piotr Włast in the 12thc. (SSS, vol. 2, p. 455-456), hence probably coming from the Middle Ages as well (for a different interpreta-tion see Korta, 1988, p. 112, 129-131). The original location of nonę of the sculptures is known.

Ali the statues are marked with St Andrew’s cross. Over a dozen of such signs can be found on stones and rocks along the ridge of Ślęża and on stone blocks around the mountain. This is another piece of evidence supposed to back the thesis about the cult function of Ślęża in pre-historic times, because that type of cross is interpreted as a solar sign (Cehak-Hołubowiczowa, 1979, p. 20-21). Wacław Korta (1988, p. 193-233), following F. Geschwendt (1940), stresses that the signs are concentrated along the linę separating the land of prince Henry the Bearded from the estate of the Augustian monas-tery, demarcated in 1209, which was recorded in the document issued by the prince for the monastery {Kodeks dyplomatyczny Śląska, 1959, vol. 2, no. 135, p. 64-70). It means that falłen sculptures along with rocks and movable blocks were used to demarcate the border. Thus, in 1209 the flgures from Ślęża had been long destroyed, and it is not known who and when sculptured them. They have been interpreted as the work of pagans, Slavs or Germans, as relics of Christian Romanesque art, or attributed to the peoples of the Lusatian culture, regarded as the Proto-Slavs. The analogies cited as support of those theses were often remote both in time and space, while convergendes in style and appearance - very vague. There are many argu-ments for the most intriguing hypothesis, which ascribes the Ślęża sculptures to Celts. Fritz Geschwendt (1938, p. 49-25), and J. Orosz and J. Rosen--Przeworska after him, pointed to the fact that there are grand sculptures exactly alike the Ślęża “Boar” and “Bear,” attributed to Celts, in Spain. Their catalogue was recently compiled by G. López Monteagudo (1989). The Spaniśh analogy, which is evident, though difficult to explain, as no sculptures of that type exist anywhere except of Silesia and Spain, concems only the zoomorphic figures. The anthropomorphic statues from Ślęża lack any convincing analogy whatsoever (Słupecki, 1993, p. 52-55).

If at the present stage of research no conclusive evidence of the pre--medieval origin of the Ślęża cult centre is available, we are entitled to assume that the walls at the peaks of the Ślęża Massif and the anthropomorphic sculptures belonged to the sanctuary mentioned by Thietmar (Słupecki, 1992). This thesis is supported by the etymologies of the names Radunia and Ślęża. The former has not been devoted due attention so far. The name of Radunia appears for the first time in the aforementioned document issued by Henry the Bearded in 1209, in the description of the borders of the Augustian estate. Interestingly enough, Ruthenian sources bring several mentions about the holiday of Radunitsa, one of the stable points of the calendar, which was the second Thursday after Easter. The celebration was a springtime homage to the dead, undoubtedly resulting from pagan tradition. Stoglar says that “near Easter they cali [everyone] to Radunitsa” and describes the rituals, sometimes prolonged until the Whit-suntide, adding that people gather “crying bitterly at cemeteries and over graves; when strolling players begin to play, they stop weeping and start dancing, jumping, clapping and singing devilish songs” {Mansikka_t 1922,