It’s a simple shrine. Just outside of the northern city of Sialuliai, Lithuania on a hilly expanse of cleared land, forested on one side and bordered by streams; a monument like no other I’ve see. It’s origin is a mystery. It is a holy place.
Thousands of metal and wooden crosses draped with rosaries, medals and statues of saints, towering images of Jesus Christ, pictures of the VIrgin Mother. Placed here for nearly two centuries.
Legend speaks to the crosses left by mourning families, victims of revolts against the Czarist Russia as early as the 1830s. Not these, but others. These are fresh. Many believe the crosses first cropped up at the end of the 19th century, after an apparition of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus asked the believers to cover the holy place with these icons.
Placing two crosses in the ground along with prayers of thousands of visitors
Since these times, cross making and the carvings of religious icons has become part of Lithuania’s national cultural heritage.
During the Soviet era, religion remained banned and the Hill of Crosses off limits. In April 1961, the entire site was bulldozed and burned down by the authorities.
Even though the Hill of Crosses was destroyed four more times, each time locals risked political danger by defiantly rebuilding the site under the cover of darkness. This is a holy place.
National Geographic
Director of the Sialuliai Tourism Information center, Ruta Stankuviene says it best: “It doesn’t matter who you are, what religious confession you follow, or at what time you come, since the canonical rituals of the Church are not so important here. The doors of this place are always open because there are no doors at all.”
Lori Wolf | 26th Apr 23
Your pictures are so artistict and beautiful.