The Benedictine monastery on Łysa Góra (Bald Mountain), traditionally called Święty Krzyż or "Holy Cross," is the spiritual centre of the region and gives the whole mountain range its name. The first monastery was founded here in the 12th century around an alleged fragment of the True Cross. The current Baroque buildings, much rebuilt after fire and war, sit at 595 metres on the second-highest peak of the Świętokrzyskie range, surrounded by the protected primeval forest of the national park.
Inside the church, the chapel of the Oleśnicki family holds the relic of the Cross in a silver reliquary; the long oak refectory is open as a small museum of monastic life. The 360-metre pre-Christian gołoborze — a "stone river" of quartzite blocks left by frost shattering at the end of the Ice Age — runs along the northern slope just outside the monastery walls and is one of the most striking geological sights in Poland. Reach the summit on foot from the village of Nowa Słupia (about an hour up through forest) or by car to the visitor centre. About 50 km from Kielce.