Szlaki województw śląskiego i opolskiego

The ruins of a chapel referred to as "devilish," located on a hill called the Hill of Executions, is a place shrouded in mystery. The preserved ruins are fragments of a Neo-Gothic chapel founded in the 1830s by Euphemia Anna von Rudinski, wife of Count Andrew Renard. The chapel was dedicated to St. Florian -- patron of firefighters and residents of the village of Suche Łany. The structure had the character of a tower (originally about 6-7 meters high), the altar contained an image of St. Euphemia (the foundress), and in a niche was a statue of St. Florian. Twenty years after the chapel's construction, the foundress attempted to expand it into a church. This was also intended to support the local population during times of famine -- workers received bread and other provisions in exchange for their work. Due to Euphemia's untimely death, the renovation was not completed and the structure began to fall into ruin. On the hill where the chapel stands, archaeological traces were found: ceramics from the Roman period, traces of iron smelting (Przeworsk culture), and even tools from the Mesolithic period. In the Middle Ages, the hill served as a place of execution -- Strzelce Opolskie had the so-called "right of the sword," i.e., the right to carry out death sentences.