Colle delle Croci (1831): il bulldozer sovietico che tornò tre volte, e tre volte perse
Nell’aprile 1961, i sovietici rasero al suolo l’intera collina: bruciarono le croci di legno, fusero quelle di metallo come rottame, seppellirono quelle di pietra. Tornarono a farlo nel 1973 e ancora nel 1975. Ogni volta, nel giro di poche settimane, i lituani tornavano di notte, attraversando campi e posti di blocco, per rimettere nuove croci al loro posto — finché nel 1993 papa Giovanni Paolo II non visitò il colle, dichiarandolo “un luogo di speranza, pace, amore e sacrificio”.
About the Hill of Crosses
The Hill of Crosses, on a low mound near Šiauliai in northern Lithuania, traces its origins to 1831, when families of Lithuanians killed in the November Uprising against Tsarist Russia, unable to locate or recover their loved ones’ bodies, began placing symbolic crosses at the site of a former hill fort. The practice continued and intensified after the further January Uprising of 1863, even though the erection of crosses was formally banned by Russian authorities — new crosses continued to appear in secret. The hill’s cross population grew steadily over the following century: around 130 crosses stood there in 1900, 155 in 1902, over 400 by 1938, and roughly 55,000 by 1990. The site became a potent symbol of Lithuanian national and religious resistance during the Soviet era, when authorities made repeated, forceful attempts to eliminate it: in April 1961, Soviet forces bulldozed the entire hill, burning the wooden crosses, melting down the metal ones as scrap, and burying the stone crosses; the KGB destroyed the site again in 1973 and once more in 1975. Each time, Lithuanians returned within weeks, carrying new crosses through fields and past guards under cover of darkness to rebuild what had been destroyed, at real risk of arrest and imprisonment — every act of placing a cross functioning as a direct act of political and religious defiance. Pope John Paul II visited the Hill of Crosses on 7 September 1993, shortly after Lithuania regained independence, declaring it “a place for hope, peace, love, and sacrifice” and thanking Lithuanians for a site that testified to enduring European faith. In 2000, a Franciscan hermitage was built nearby, architecturally inspired by La Verna in Italy, where Saint Francis received the stigmata. Today the hill holds an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 crosses of every size and material, continuously added to by pilgrims and visitors from around the world.
Key facts
- 1831: first crosses placed after the November Uprising against Tsarist Russia
- 1863: practice continues in secret despite a ban, following the January Uprising
- 1900-1990: cross count grows from roughly 130 to approximately 55,000
- April 1961, 1973, 1975: Soviet authorities bulldoze and destroy the site three times
- 7 September 1993: Pope John Paul II visits, declaring it “a place for hope, peace, love, and sacrifice”
- 2000: a Franciscan hermitage, inspired by La Verna, is built nearby
- Today: an estimated 100,000-200,000 crosses cover the hill
History
The Soviet state’s three documented attempts to permanently destroy the Hill of Crosses — in 1961, 1973, and 1975 — and its consistent failure to prevent the site’s rapid reconstruction each time, make it one of the clearest physical illustrations anywhere in the former USSR of a population’s sustained, non-violent religious and national resistance to state suppression, sustained across more than three decades of Soviet rule. The personal risk involved in each act of cross-placing, carried out secretly at night in defiance of an occupying state prepared to imprison offenders, gives the hill’s continued growth throughout the Soviet period a genuinely grassroots, individually accumulated character rather than any single organised campaign.
Pope John Paul II’s 1993 visit, arriving barely two years after Lithuania had regained its independence from the Soviet Union, situates the Hill of Crosses at the direct intersection of religious pilgrimage and the specific national historical memory of Soviet-era resistance — his declaration of the site as one of “hope, peace, love, and sacrifice” explicitly recognised the hill’s dual identity as both a Catholic devotional space and a monument to Lithuania’s 20th-century struggle for independence.
What you see
The hill itself, a low mound on the site of a former hill fort, is entirely covered with crosses of every conceivable size, material, and style — from tiny personal crosses left by individual pilgrims to large monumental crosses donated by parishes, nations, and religious orders, densely packed across the entire visible surface. The nearby Franciscan hermitage, built in 2000 and architecturally inspired by La Verna in Italy, provides a permanent religious presence adjacent to the pilgrimage site.
Practical information
- Opening hours: the site is open at all times, outdoors; free admission
- Address: Kryžių kalnas, Piliakalnio g., Domantai, Šiauliai District, 81439, Lithuania
Getting there
The Hill of Crosses is reachable by car from Šiauliai (approximately 20 minutes) in northern Lithuania. GPS: 56.0150° N, 23.4157° E.
Nearby
- Šiauliai — approximately 20 minutes away; the nearest major city
- Franciscan hermitage — the monastery built in 2000 adjacent to the hill
- Meškuičiai — the nearest town, within the Šiauliai district
Sources
- Wikipedia — “Hill of Crosses” (en.wikipedia.org)
- National Geographic — “Visit the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania” (nationalgeographic.com)
- Ex Utopia — “The Hill of Crosses: A Monument to Lithuanian Defiance” (exutopia.com)
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