Hill Of 100,000 Crosses In Lithuania Survived Against All Odds

Ellen Lloyd - AncientPages.com - For many centuries, people in Lithuania have put up crosses on a hill located about sixteen kilometers from Šiauliai, a city in the North.

Over the years, many attempts were made to end this practice, but people never gave up and continued to place crosses on the hill. Today the place is known as the Hill of Crosses and it has become a symbol not only of faith, but also a reminder of resistance against oppression.

Hill of Crosses - Image credit: Marcin Szala

The hill is 60 meters long and 40-50 meters wide and it is believed the first cross was placed here by the relatives of the victims of the Lithuanian rebellion in 1831.

Symbol Against Oppression

The Russian Tsar, Nicholas I and his government prohibited any kind of freedom and Russia was a typical police state with a wide net of spies and harsh punishments for any thought or action against the government. Countries like Lithuania and Poland, which had been subjugated by Russia made several revolts against the despotic regime.

Image credit: Amos Chapple/Rex Features/CP

People desired liberty, freedom, and independence, but the despotic atmosphere weighed on all Russia, and even more so on the subjugated countries.

Image credit: Amos Chapple/Rex Features/CP

In 1831, the tsarists government did not allow the families to honor their dead properly and people started to place crosses on the hill. After the second rebellion in 1863, there were even more crosses.

The crosses were first counted in 1900 and at the time there were 130 crosses on the hill. The number of crosses continued to rise, and the place took on a special significance during the years 1944–1990, when Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union.

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In 1961, the Soviet government demolished over 5000 crosses, by 1975 – 1200 crosses more. The Soviet government considered the crosses and the hill a hostile and harmful symbol.

People in Lithuania did not give up. They continued to go to the Hill of Crosses, and leave their tributes, Lithuanians used it to demonstrate their allegiance to their original identity, religion and heritage. The Soviet government tried to destroy this sacred site on at least three occasions.

Hill Of Crosses Is A Sacred Site

There were even rumors that the authorities planned to build a dam on the nearby Kulvė River, so that the hill would end up underwater.

On September 7, 1993, Pope John Paul II visited the Hill of Crosses, declaring it a place for hope, peace, love and sacrifice. In 2000, a Franciscan hermitage was opened nearby.

Today the Hill of Crosses is visited by many people from different countries. Catholic pilgrims are placing here not only crosses, but also but statues of the Virgin Mary, carvings of Lithuanian patriots and thousands of tiny effigies and rosaries.

The number of crosses in 2006 was 100,000.

Image credit: Amos Chapple/Rex Features/CP

The crosses on the Hill of Crosses are also endless reminders of peoples’ misfortunes, sorrow and catastrophes. On September 28, 1994, MS Estonia was sailing from Estonia to Sweden. The weather was bad and the ferry sent a distress signal. Water flooded in through an open bay door. The ferry sank within five minutes. The total number of dead was 852 and some of them were rather poor people who had finally saves money and could make their first journey to Sweden.

After the MS Estonia catastrophe, one cross was put on the Hill of Crosses.

The cross is best known as a Christian symbol but this ancient universal symbol has its beginnings in the most remote times and there are several different types of crosses used by many ancient cultures.

Written by  Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com

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About the author:
Ellen Lloyd – is the owner of AncientPages.com and an author who has spent decades researching ancient mysteries, myths, legends and sacred texts, but she is also very interested in astronomy, astrobiology and science in general