Does That Look Like a Pyramid?

June 4, 2022

Wooded Visočica hill, the so-called Pyramid of the Sun, above Visoko and the Bosna river, Bosnia — The shape is right, at least, said Nicky, and neither of us would promise more.

Day eighteen, Bosnia. “Does that look like a pyramid to you?” I ask Nicky.

It sort of does. “The shape is right, anyway,” she says.

We are standing on the bridge next to the Piramida Sunca hotel in Visoko, thirty-five kilometres northwest of Sarajevo, with a clear view of Visočica, the hill they call the Pyramid of the Sun.

Some people say the Bosnian pyramids are a well-made trick for bringing tourists to a small town. Others swear by the place and are certain it was built, by someone, at some point. The Pyramid of the Sun is 220 metres high and is said to be around thirty thousand years old, which would at least account for the depth of soil and the trees growing out of it.

The man who found them, Dr Semir Osmanagić, sees two more hills nearby as pyramids: the Moon and the Dragon. The northern face of the Sun is said to line up with the pole to within twelve seconds of arc. Volunteers have uncovered blocks on the slopes that look like very old concrete. The authorities take almost no interest.

Real or not, it makes for an afternoon. We walk the excavation sites, take photographs, talk to locals and to tourists. The place draws a particular kind of person: curious, and willing to be wrong.

In a bar we meet some Austrians. “Have you been in the tunnels at Ravne? You have to go.” We hear that more than once.

Why not. The tunnels are tomorrow.

View over Visoko in Bosnia with red roofs, green hills and mountains under a blue sky — Thirty-five kilometres northwest of Sarajevo, and every hill has a decent shape.

Exposed stone slabs on a slope of the Bosnian pyramids near Visoko, woodland behind — Volunteers dug out blocks here that look like very old concrete.

Close-up of a stone with embedded pebbles at an excavation site in Visoko, Bosnia — Up close you can see every pebble, just not who put it there.

Pebbly, yellowish cemented ground with grasses and wildflowers at the Pyramid of the Sun in Visoko — Soil and plants on top would at least fit thirty thousand years.

Bare slope of cemented rubble at an excavation site in Visoko, visitors sitting in the shade above — A place that draws people who are curious and willing to be wrong.

Broken stone slabs on a forest path at the Bosnian pyramids in Visoko, red earth and pine trees — We walk the dig sites, and everyone sees something different in them.

Sloping smooth stone slabs on a hillside under pine trees at the Pyramid of the Sun near Visoko — The authorities show little interest, the volunteers a great deal.

Large cracked concrete-like slabs on a wooded slope near Visoko, pine cones scattered in front — Real or not, it makes for an afternoon.