Hill Of Crosses: Lithuania's Sacred Mound Of Hundred Thousand Crosses

 56°00'55.18"N 23°24'58.77"E

(from Wikimedia Commons )

   Northern Lithuania is called "The Highlands", although this can sound ironic and confusing at the same time, because in reality it is formed by a vast agricultural landscape with the nearest equivalent of a mountain being some dispersed hummocks. Besides and most importantly, it differs from the rest of the country because of its singular language, its iconic folk singing and the cross-crafting tradition, which has been designated as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO. This practice is perfectly reflected on today's wonder, the Hill of Crosses (Kryžių Kalnas); a remote little hill which contains over 100 000 handcrafted Christian crosses of diverse sizes. And the number keeps growing.

   While the exact origins of this tradition are unclear, there are three main legends trying to explain how all began. The first fable tells of a lone church who stood on top of the uplift; but which would be buried underneath the surface after a strong tempest, with the monks still inside. Another says that the mound hosted a pagan castle which was massacred by the Order of the Brothers of the Sword. However, the most widespread story is the narrative of a desperate father whose daughter was deadly ill. Almost hopeless, he suddenly had a vision of Virgin Mary who told him he should build a wooden cross and place it on a hill, to prevent the death of the girl. The man accepted and succeeded in the attempt: he recovered his daughter. From then on, over a span of centuries, pilgrims have been adding crosses to fulfill their prayers like the sick girl's father did, or to honor the victims of the burnt church and the destroyed castle. 

What an actual crosswalk looks like(from Wikimedia Commons )

   Yet, in 1940, the Soviet Union would invade Lithuania, marking the beginning of an obscure prohibition era which forbid, between others, the practice of Christianity. So thinking under logic circumstances, this would stop the cross-making, but it actually provoked quite the contrary: as a form of rebellion, proud Lithuanians added even more crosses to the hill, even though they were aware that was risky. Soon, Soviets noticed the nationalist landmark and rolled it over with bulldozers, burnt the wooden crosses, and used the metal and the stone crosses for construction. The Soviets decided to block the streets and to implant guarding KGB officers; the craziest attempt of all was when they almost flooded the region. Nonetheless, new crosses appeared every day.

   When Lithuania gained independence, the hill had already been surviving the Soviet Era for 48 long years, asserting itself worldwide pilgrimage. The most prominent guest was, without any doubt, Pope John Paul II, who supposedly was very touched once he saw a cross which contained a prayer directed to his health, after he almost died in the famous assassination attempt. Following an emotional sermon at the site, the Pope continued his journey through Lithuania, but the experience stayed with him. Some months later, during his visit to a Franciscan monastery on a hilltop in Italy, he encouraged Franciscan monks to built likewise a monastery in Lithuania, as both summits seem to have something special in common. The monks accepted, and the monastery still stands today, although it is much less known than the proper hill.

The Franciscan Monastery (from Wikimedia Commons )

Sources and Picture Credits:

Sources: Official Website, National Geographic, BBC

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Picture 1 and 2 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Yamen

Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (Learn more)

Picture 3 https://www.flickr.com/people/8764148@N06 (Dave Massie)