The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania
The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania

Video: The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania

Video: The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania
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The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania
The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania

A few kilometers from the city of Šiauliai, there is one of the strangest and most unusual tourist attractions in Lithuania, and perhaps the whole world. This is about Mountain of Crosses - an object where several tens of thousands of these Christian symbols have been collected on a small patch.

The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania
The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania

Lithuania can boast of several attractions at once, which have no close analogues in any other place in the world. For example, the jokingly independent bohemian Republic of Uzupis in the very center of Vilnius or the mystical Hill of Crosses in the vicinity of the city of Siauliai.

The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania
The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania

Despite its outward resemblance to a cemetery, the Hill of Crosses is not. This is a place of pilgrimage, where people from all over Lithuania, and from other countries too, carry crosses with their names. It is believed that by leaving this Christian symbol here, you can be cured of a serious illness or get good luck on your side before making some important decision.

The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania
The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania

Historians and ethnographers cannot agree on where the Hill of Crosses came from. Some consider it to be an ancient pagan temple, which has not lost its sacred significance after the adoption of Christianity by Lithuania in the fourteenth century. Others argue that this object is much younger, and it appeared in memory of the Lithuanian soldiers who died during the Polish uprising of 1830-1831.

The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania
The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania

Aware of the critical importance of the Hill of Crosses in the national consciousness of Lithuanians, the Soviet government destroyed this historical and cultural monument four times, but local residents restored it in a matter of days.

The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania
The Hill of Crosses is the most unusual sight of Lithuania

It is believed that now there are more than 50 thousand crosses of various shapes and sizes. And every day their number is growing.

Pope John Paul II, who visited Lithuania in 1993, also left the cross in memory of himself. His visit glorified the Hill of Crosses throughout the Catholic world.

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