The Hill of Crosses

edit: Photos coming soon!

Siauliai, 19.08.2017

There are sometimes quite curious things in the world. One of these things is definitely the Hill of Crosses.

On our way from Klaipeda to Riga, we stop at a national sanctuary of the Lithuanians. Just before the Latvian border lies the city of Siauliai, which is relatively large for Lithuanian standards with 10,000 inhabitants. At some point, a pilgrim placed a cross on a hill near a chapel. No one really knows why. In the following years, the pilgrim found many followers and a small mountain of crosses grew. With the onset of Soviet rule in Lithuania after World War II, the hill caught the attention of the Soviets. They burned the hill because the superstitious custom did not fit into the image of the Soviet republic. However, the Soviets had not reckoned with the Lithuanians, who promptly filled the hill with significantly more crosses, expressing their resistance. Within a short period of time, the hill grew rapidly. After the end of Soviet rule in the early 1990s, there was no stopping it. People from all over Europe started placing crosses and the hill grew into the largest pile of crosses in the world. Today, the hill is a national sanctuary and famous and very important throughout the Baltic region. Private individuals, the Baltic NATO battalion, or aid organizations, all place crosses to seek luck for themselves or for relatives, organizations, or other things.

I think this is a very interesting story and somehow a little curiosity.

After a walk through the Forest of Crosses, we continue towards Riga. We have a flat tire and need to get a replacement and hope that it will be easy in Riga.