A hill above a medieval capital
Visoko is a small town about 35 km from Sarajevo, in the hills of central Bosnia. In the Middle Ages it was Bosnia's capital, and the ruins of a medieval fortress, the old town of Visoki, sit on top of Visočica hill above it.
Visočica is about 213 meters high, and from some angles its sides look surprisingly even. That shape is where the story starts.
The claim
In 2005, Semir Osmanagić, a Bosnian-American businessman based in Houston, visited Visočica, noticed its pyramid-like shape and went on to claim that it and the nearby hills are the largest man-made ancient pyramids on Earth.
He named Visočica the Pyramid of the Sun and nearby Plješevica the Pyramid of the Moon, and promoted a network of tunnels below them, the Ravne tunnels. A media campaign from October 2005 brought Visoko international attention, and a foundation was set up to dig and promote the site.
What scientists found
Geologists, archaeologists and other scientists who studied the site concluded the hills are natural formations called flatirons, with no evidence of human construction. Flatirons form when a layer of harder rock over softer layers erodes into a steep, triangular face, and they are found all over the world.
In early 2006, geologists from the University of Tuzla analyzed core samples from Visočica and found the same alternating layers of conglomerate, clay and sandstone as in other mountains in the area. The European Association of Archaeologists called the pyramid project a cruel hoax.
Why we went anyway
We had the rental car for a day, so we drove up from Sarajevo to see it for ourselves. It's interesting, if a bit kitschy: whatever you make of the pyramids, the claim has turned the hillside into a small attraction, with cafés, paths and steps up through the pines.
Go for the views over Visoko's red roofs and the green valley, the medieval history and a strange modern story, rather than for pyramids.
