Hill of Crosses, Siauliai, Lithuania ( Happy PFF)

I was intrigued & shocked when I received this postcard from Lithuania ~~ A hill full with crosses. Tens of thousands of crosses planted on a hillside in Lithuania.

Thank you Gintare to sent me this postcard.

The Hill of Crosses, Kryzių Kalnas, located 12 kilometers north of the small industrial city of Siauliai (pronounced shoo-lay) is the Lithuanian national pilgrimage center. Standing upon a small hill are many hundreds of thousands of crosses that represent Christian devotion and a memorial to Lithuanian national identity.

During the Soviet era, many of the thousands of crosses there were destroyed by Communist authorities or looted for scrap material. But since Lithuania declared independence in 1990, the Hill of Crosses has become not only a tourist attraction, but also a national symbol.

The size and variety of crosses is as amazing as their number. Beautifully carved out of wood or sculpted from metal, the crosses range from three meters tall to the countless tiny examples hanging profusely upon the larger crosses.

I love what Gintare (Gleska) wrote to me on the postcard, “ This is an expression of a spontaneous, religiousness of the people, and in a symbol not of grief and death but of faith, love and sacrifice.”


Happy PFF

Further reading
http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/lithuania/lithuania.html
http://www.faithandfacts.com/2009/03/23/lithuania%E2%80%99s-hill-of-crosses/