One of the most beautiful Baroque Calvaries in Europe stands on a cone-shaped hill right at the heart of the crater of the Štiavnica stratovolcano, and can be seen from every direction.
Scharffenberg Hill (Ostrý vrch) was the last vent through which red-hot lava rose from the centre of the Earth to the surface. The land for the Catholic Calvary was donated to the Catholics by an Evangelical family. In the mid-18th century this was regarded as a tremendous ecumenical gesture – one that can still be a great inspiration today. The Calvary is also remarkable for its number of stations depicting the life journey of Jesus Christ: there are as many as 25 (a Calvary usually has 14). You can park right in front of the Infocentrum – Kalvária on Pod Kalváriou street, where you’ll also find an exhibition about the Calvary and, on request and for a small fee, can borrow the key to the new viewpoint in the tower of the upper church. The sightseeing road train also comes here, starting and finishing on Holy Trinity Square.
