The Hill of Crosses (Kryžių kalnas) near Šiauliai in Lithuania is one of the top things to see when visiting Vilnius.
This post originally appeared on my other now-defunct travel blog and is based on my travels in Lithuania in August 2018.
There is no exact historical date for when and how the first cross was erected on the legendary and storied mound of Jurgaičiai. (Domantai) Nowadays, The Hill of Crosses. A variety of sources from the second part of the 19th century show that the hill was by then considered sacred. About 1850, Mauricijus Griškevičius, a treasurer of Šiauliai economy, wrote about a severely sick inhabitant of Jurgaičiai village, who made a promise to erect a cross if he got well.
After rebellions in 1831 and 1863, more and more crosses emerged on the hill. According to testimonies, before World War One, there were over 200 crosses, in 1923 the number reached about 400 and in 1960 there were over 2,000.
During the time of the Soviet occupation, the Hill of Crosses became, locus non grata, an undesirable place. On the 5th of April 1961, the Soviets destroyed the hill, leaving not one single cross on it. Not long after the destruction, however, crosses reappeared on the hill and their number rapidly grew, despite repeated destruction in 1973, 1974 and 1975.
In 1988, with the beginning of the Lithuanian Revival, the situation radically changed. Today, the number of crosses has reached about 100,000.
How to get to the Hill of Crosses from Vilnius:
I was staying in Vilnius at the time, so I took the early morning train to Šiauliai, which took about 2 hours 20 minutes. From the railway station, it’s a 10-minute walk to the bus station. Then it’s a question of taking the next bus to (14 km) Domantai and getting off at the turn-off.
From the bus stop on the highway, it’s a 20-minute walk to the Hill of Crosses site.
Having backpacked the Hill of Crosses, I retraced my steps back to Šiauliai and took a bus to Klaipėda.
If you are heading back to Vilnius, the trains are infrequent, but the buses run fairly regularly. It makes for a great day trip.
If you have any details about making this trip, more recently, either from Vilnius or even Kaunas, drop me a comment below.
