Once a bastion forming part of the anti-Ottoman fortifications, today it houses an exhibition reached by exactly 175 steps.
It tells the life story of Maximilian Hell, a native of the village and a renowned astronomer who worked at some of Europe’s most prestigious universities. He observed the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun, which enabled him to become the first person in the world to calculate the distance between the Sun and the Earth. The second part of the exhibition presents the milestones and the world, European and Slovak firsts of Štiavnické Bane. By the bastion there are benches and tables where you can sit and rest, and a wonderful view of the village and of Sitno, our highest hill (1,009 m above sea level).
