A remarkable rock formation, originally 28 kilometres long, extends from the foot of Ještěd towards Bezděz. It is a basalt dyke that rose through sandstone. As the sandstone eroded, a rocky wall emerged above ground like a rampart three to seven metres high, made of horizontal prisms. Today it is interrupted in many places. It reaches its greatest height near Smržov, now part of Český Dub, and is called the Devil’s Wall. People say it arose from a wager: the devil had to build it in one night. What he failed to finish before the morning cockcrow, he emptied from his sack near Světlá, creating Horka hill. In a region once troubled by ethnic tensions, another version persisted: a local farmer wanted a wall to separate Czechs and Germans. The devil helped him, and the Devil’s Wall was the result. See Bezděz.
Location and map
- Place
- Český Dub
- Municipality / starting point
- Český Dub
- District / region
- Liberec
- Country
- Czechia
- Distance and direction
- 18 km N of Mnichova Hradiště
A remarkable rock formation, originally 28 kilometres long, extends from the foot of Ještěd towards Bezděz. It is a basalt dyke that rose through sandstone. As the sandstone eroded, a rocky wall emerged above ground like a rampart three to seven metres high, made of horizontal prisms. Today it is interrupted in many places. It reaches its greatest height…
The link searches for Český Dub and its surroundings. The sources do not establish the precise point of this legend.
Approximate location · municipality or area search. The distance comes from the sources, not a currently calculated route.
Sources of the original atlas Tajemná místa · page 90
This legend preserves a folk tale. Its motifs do not constitute evidence of supernatural events.