Prosíčská horka

Prosíčská horka is a modest but geologically striking hill in the Ralsko municipality, Česká Lípa district, in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic, within the former Ralsko military training area. It rises to roughly 408 metres above sea level, a few kilometres southwest of the village of Vicmanov, within the cadastral territory of Jabloneček. It is far from the tallest summit of the Ralsko Uplands — that title belongs to Ralsko itself at 698 metres — but the hill stands out for its elongated shape and its turbulent twentieth-century past.

How did the hill form?

Prosíčská horka is a volcanic neck, a remnant of the Tertiary volcanic activity that shaped many of the distinctive cone-like hills scattered across the Ralsko Uplands. A hard basaltoid breccia dike forced its way up through much older, Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) calcareous-clayey and quartz sandstones, producing a ridge oriented roughly west-northwest to east-southeast. Because the volcanic rock resisted erosion far better than the surrounding soft Cretaceous sediments, the hill survived while the softer rock around it was gradually worn away by water and ice.

What is there to see on and around the hill?

The slopes and summit are covered in mixed forest, dense enough that sweeping panoramas are rare here compared with more exposed peaks in the region. Even so, gaps between the trees offer glimpses toward the Ještěd ridge and the foothills beneath it, making the hill a useful landmark for anyone hiking through the former training ground. Visitors should keep in mind that the surrounding land still bears traces of its military past, and some nearby areas remain off-limits to casual walking because of unexploded ordnance.

Where does the hill's name come from?

The name derives from the now-vanished village of Prosíčka (German: Prositschka), which once stood about 650 metres southeast of the summit. It was one of the smallest settlements in the region, with just fourteen houses. The village did not survive the creation of the military area — it was evacuated and converted into an air force shooting range. Today, little remains beyond scattered foundations, broken perimeter walls, fragments of stone steps, old livestock troughs, and a handful of lime trees that once stood by the farmsteads and a chapel long since gone.

What role did the hill play during the military training area era?

From the 1960s through the 1990s, the area around Prosíčská horka served as a Soviet Army air force shooting range, linked to nearby missile storage on Chlum hill. The live-fire exercises left behind large quantities of unexploded munitions, and this stretch of the former Ralsko training area is now considered among the most heavily contaminated by ordnance in the region. Because of that legacy, authorities imposed a construction ban expected to last roughly another century, and the land is deliberately left unplanted rather than reforested — safety comes before landscape restoration here.

What does the area look like today?

Since the end of military activity, the former Ralsko training ground, including the land around Prosíčská horka, has become part of Geopark Ralsko, a protected area valued both for the unique volcanic geology of its hills and for forests that have largely reclaimed the land on their own, without human intervention. The result is a landscape where the scars of a dramatic twentieth-century history sit alongside genuinely wild, returning nature.

Frequently asked questions

How tall is Prosíčská horka? The hill reaches roughly 408 metres above sea level.

Where exactly is it located? In the Ralsko municipality, Česká Lípa district, Liberec Region, within the former Ralsko military training area, a few kilometres from the village of Vicmanov.

Where does the hill's name come from? From the vanished village of Prosíčka, which was evacuated and destroyed during the creation of the military training area.

Is it safe to walk around the area? The area still carries a risk from unexploded ordnance left over from military exercises, so it is best to stick to marked trails and stay cautious.

What is the hill's geological character? It is a volcanic neck — a hard basaltoid rock body that pushed up through older Cretaceous sandstones, giving the hill its elongated, ridge-like shape.