The Říp mountain ( in Czech) is a 459 m solitary hill rising up from the central Bohemian flatland where, according to a legend, the first Czechs settled down. Říp is located 25 km south-west of Litoměřice, Czech Republic.

Geologically, Říp is a remnant of a tertiary volcano and is composed of basalt nephelites containing olivine granules, amphibole, leucite and — among others — magnetite (a local magnetic anomaly can even be observed on the hill). The hill was forestless until 1879 when Mořic Lobkowitz had it planted with trees. Today, almost all of the mountain is covered by an oak-and-hornbeam forest with some maple, pine ash and linden trees. Some rare thermophile plants can be found at the few tree-less places on the top of the hill, such as Gagea bohemica or Iris pumila.

Říp, being visible from great distance, has always been an important orientation point in the Bohemian scenery and attracted attention since the oldest times. The name of the mountain is of a pre-slavic origin and probably comes from the germanic word *rīp which means "an elevation, a hill".

Legend

A traditional legend, first recorded by the ancient Czech chronicler Kosmas in the beginning of the 12th century, considers Říp to be the place where the first Slavs, lead by Praotec Čech (Forefather Bohemus), settled down, naming the land after the leader. In the 16th century the legend has been revived by Václav Hájek of Libočany who claimed that Bohemus was burried in a nearby village Ctiněves and, later on, by Alois Jirásek in his Old Bohemian Legends from 1894.

Buildings

On the top of the hill there is a romanesque rotunda of Saint George built by Soběslav I in 1126 to commemorate his victorious battle of Chlumec where he defeated Lothair II. The top of Říp became a popular pilgrimage place and a frequent site of national manifestations and mass meetings. A famous manifestation was held here on 10 May 1868 when the foundation stone was taken up from the hill for the newly built National Theatre in Prague. The present appearance of the rotunda is the result of a purist reconstruction from 1870s.

Nearby the rotunda there was tourist hut, serving travellers till today, built in 1907. In accordance with the patriotic spirit of the time, a wooden plate is mounted on the hut wall, saying "What Mecca is to a Muhammad, Říp should be to a Czech!" (Czech: "Co Mohammedu Mekka, to Čechu má být Říp!").