The menhir is placed on Sitno hill in late October. (source: Archive of Peter Mészároš)
A menhir weighing almost seven tons has been carried all the way from a sculpture workshop in Slovenský Grob, a town near Bratislava, to Sitno, the highest peak (1,009 m) of the Štiavnické Vrchy mountain range.
The stone monument, created by sculptor Peter Mészároš, was unveiled at Sitno on October 25 by the Slovak Tourist Club, writes the My Levice website.
The standing stone commemorates the 150th anniversary of the founding of the first tourist organisation in Hungary, the Hungarian Carpathian Club. (Before 1918, Slovakia was part of the then Kingdom of Hungary.) The club was founded in summer 1873 in the Tatras. Next year, another jubilee – the 150th anniversary of the marking of the first hiking trail on the territory of today's Slovakia – will be engraved into the stone. The trail led through the Štiavnické Vrchy hills, near Sitno, which is considered the cradle of European mountain tourism.
Slovakia boasts of about 15,000 km of marked hiking trails. They are currently looked after by 350 volunteers.
The marking of tourist routes has been added to Slovakia's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Interesting artifact
Mészároš, who is the author of several well-known pieces of public art, including the Gate of Freedom below Devín Castle in Bratislava, used a block of travertine from Slovakia to carve his latest public artwork.
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"The interesting thing is that there is a fossil of a tree leaf in the stone on the right side," said Mészároš.
The stone is from a rock that, according to tests, was formed one million years ago, he added.
According to the sculptor, travertine is one of the best stones for outdoor artworks. At Sitno, it will have to withstand heat, wind and frost.
For Mészároš, the fact that his work will remain on the hill for decades to come has personal significance.
"Sitno has always been a point of reference to me. I stared at it on my way to Levice when I was a child," he explained.
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