Hill of Crosses, Lithuania

Truly this is one of the most amazing sights. This place is believed to be an ancient/spiritual place in Lithuania. This place is the Hill of Crosses.

This is the reason that most people come to Siauliai, Lithuania. In the guidebooks and on postcards it looks like an enormous hill festooned with crosses, which makes certain people want to rush to see it. It is, in fact, a couple of modest mounds festooned with crosses, but is nonetheless more impressive than any postcard or guidebook.

The city of Siauliai was founded in 1236 and occupied by Teutonic Knights during the 14th century. The tradition of placing crosses dates from this period and probably first arose as a symbol of Lithuanian defiance of foreign invaders. Since the medieval period, the Hill of Crosses has represented the peaceful resistance of Lithuanian Catholicism to oppression. In 1795 Siauliai was incorporated into Russia but was returned to Lithuania in 1918. Many crosses were erected upon the hill after the peasant uprising of 1831-63. By 1895, there were at least 150 large crosses, in 1914 200, and by 1940 there were 400 large crosses surrounded by thousands of smaller ones.

Captured by Germany in World War II, the city suffered heavy damage when Soviet Russia retook it at the war's end. From 1944 until Lithuania's independence in 1991, Siauliai was a part of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR. During the Soviet era, the pilgrimage to the Hill of Crosses served as a vital expression of Lithuanian nationalism. The Soviets repeatedly removed Christian crosses placed on the hill by Lithuanians. Three times, during 1961, 1973 and 1975, the hill was leveled, the crosses were burned or turned into scrap metal, and the area was covered with waste and sewage. Following each of these desecrations local inhabitants and pilgrims from all over Lithuania rapidly replaced crosses upon the sacred hill. In 1985, the Hill of Crosses was finally left in peace. The reputation of the sacred hill has since spread all over the world and every year it is visited by many thousands of pilgrims. Pope John Paul II visited the Hill of Crosses in September of 1993.

The thing you can’t appreciate without visiting is the feeling of getting in among all those crosses. Sure, they’re impressive to look at from afar, but once you start meandering along the little paths that weave all over the hill, or even just along the one straight path that passes over it like a stripe painted down a two-humped camels back, you become lost in a strange depth. There are, of course, many big crosses. These, however, are crowded and often crawling with smaller crosses. These again are dripping with tiny crosses and rosaries. Its crosses upon crosses upon crosses. In some places, there are mini mountains of crosses. Those who are inclined to pay attention to detail will notice there are names, dates and often messages on most of the crosses – sometimes carefully crafted, sometimes simply hand written. Some crosses offer gratitude or hope. Others convey wishes for world peace, the health of grandchildren, shorter queues at the bank and, presumably, God knows what else. Each cross has a story to tell, and there is something about being in among all those stories, all those hopes and dreams, and all that clutter of compassion and concern, that is both bewildering and moving.

No one owns or runs the Hill of Crosses. There are no tickets to buy or opening hours and the ‘gift shop’ consists of people who sell things, including crosses that you can buy and then instantly deposit on the hill yourself, from temporary market type stalls. None of it is there. It is just kind of there, and has been for a very long time...