Hill of Crosses travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

The tradition of placing crucifixes on a hill at the Lithuanian border was founded as early as the 14th century to defy foreign insurgents, and continues today as a statement of cultural identity.
Although it’s a very old tradition, very few of the existing crosses date from earlier than 1985. The Hill of Crosses has a long history of being levelled by oppressors (including three times during the Soviet era when the crosses were burned and reduced to scrap and the land covered in sewage). The way the population of Lithuania continue to return and replaces the crosses on the hill is part of what makes this a sacred site for Catholics all over the world. Today the hill holds about 400 large crosses surrounded by thousands of smaller ones and it’s added to by the many pilgrims that visit the site each year.