Hill of Crosses, Lithuania

Hill of Crosses, Lithuania is one of the famous place in Lithuania and is associated as the religious and spiritual place in the country. Hill of Crosses is located at a distance of sixteen kilometer from Siauliai and is 60m long and 50m wide. The origin of Hill of Crosses dates back to 12th century and the inhabitants of this area began the tradition of placing crosses here and by the 18th century the number of crosses increased manifold times. Till the advent of 20th century the number of crosses started growing from hundreds to thousands, thus making it the popular pilgrimage site.

The Hill of Crosses Lithuania gained worldwide significance after the breach of USSR and Pope John Paul II visited this place in 1997. The innumerable crosses have different inscriptions and pictures on them. The Crucifixes of various shapes are found and they are either made of wood or different metals and stands solid in the ground.

It is believed that Hill of Three Crosses, Lithuania previously had wooden castle and the crusaders destroyed it and it was never rebuilt again. Some believes that three orthodox monks were killed in XV century and hence three crosses were built in their memory.



As the Hill of Crosses, Lithuania is a pilgrimage site so pilgrims and visitors come here for prayer and the place is calm and quiet. It is customary for the visitors to leave a cross of here, else one doesn't have then he take a pebble and stick it as others have done. In 2000 a monastery was built at proximal distance of 300m away from the hill and contains sixteen cells. Thus the Hill of Crosses is unique and is one of the pilgrimage sites among all the churches in Lithuania.