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Published: April 21st 2008
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(Day 17 on the road)After Vilnius, I went to see one of the most inspiring sites in Lithuania: The Hill of Crosses. Situated near the city of Šiauliai (pronounced shoo-lay, sounds a bit Asian to me) in the north of the country, the hill houses more than 50.000 (!) crosses.
The tradition of placing crosses here dates way back (around the 14th century) and today is the finest example of Lithuanian defiance of foreign invaders. After the second World War, Lithuania was of course part of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet era, the pilgrimage to the Hill of Crosses served as a vital expression of Lithuanian nationalism and Christianity, which the Soviets were of course not keen on either. The Soviets thus repeatedly removed the crosses by levelling the hill and burning the crosses. However, the crosses just kept reappearing and in 1985, the Hill of Crosses was finally left in peace.
If you want to read more about the Hill of Crosses, Wikipedia is always here to help:
Next stop: Riga (Latvia).
To view my photos, have a look at pictures.beiske.com. And to read the full account of my journey, have a look at the complete
book about my trip at Amazon (and most other online book shops).
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Chus
non-member comment
No wonder the Soviets got quite "crossed".