SockMonkey.com™
Search
Field Guide · Entry № 238

Hill of Crosses

A sandy path runs up between walls of crosses, large and small, wooden and iron, hung with rosaries, to wooden steps climbing the hill, a white cross and a carved roof-pole shrine at right against a clear blue sky

Photograph: yeowatzup · Hill of Crosses, Lithuania (7182815829) · CC BY 2.0

North of Šiauliai, where the Lithuanian farmland runs flat to the horizon, a small mound rises beside a stream, and it is covered in crosses: tall carved oak crosses with little roofs, iron crucifixes, statues of the Virgin, and tiny crosses by the thousand hung with rosaries that clack together in the wind. Nobody knows exactly how it began. The usual account is that families of rebels killed in the uprisings of the nineteenth century, who could not find their bodies, put up crosses here instead. Under Soviet rule the authorities bulldozed it, more than once, and people came back by night and planted more. They still bring them.

Where
About 12 km north of Šiauliai
northern Lithuania
Coordinates
56.02° N
23.42° E
Crosses
Uncounted; about 55,000 (1990)
and 100,000 (2006) by Lithuanian estimates
Papal visit
John Paul II, 7 September 1993
Getting there
By road from Šiauliai
or about three hours from Vilnius
Best visited
Year-round
Advisory
Lithuania Level 1
From Tally’s diary

Flat green farmland, a few birches, a stork nesting on a pole, and then a low mound so thick with crucifixes that it bristled. Some stood taller than a house, some were no bigger than my hand, and some wore little carved roofs against the rain. When the wind came, every rosary on it knocked softly against the wood together. I went round by the path, hands behind my back.

The short answer

The Hill of Crosses, Kryžių kalnas in Lithuanian, is a place of Catholic pilgrimage on a small former hill fort, known as the Jurgaičiai or Domantai hill fort, about 12 km north of the city of Šiauliai in northern Lithuania, Wikipedia records. Pilgrims and visitors have covered it with crosses and crucifixes, statues of the Virgin Mary, carvings of Lithuanian patriots and great numbers of small effigies and rosaries. No one knows how many crosses stand there: the estimates Wikipedia cites from Lithuanian heritage sources are about 55,000 in 1990 and about 100,000 in 2006, and travel writers today give figures well above that, none of them from a count. It is one of the main Catholic pilgrimage sites in Lithuania.

Why it's worth knowing

A beginning nobody recorded. The first crosses are believed to have gone up after the uprising of 1831 against the Russian Empire, which had absorbed Lithuania in 1795; the uprisings of 1831 and 1863 failed, and families who could not find the bodies of rebels who had died are said to have put up crosses on the old hill fort in their memory, by Wikipedia’s account. Between the world wars, in independent Lithuania, people came to pray for the country and for those lost in its wars of independence.

Cleared, and replanted. Under Soviet rule, from 1944 to 1990, religious practice was persecuted, and the hill became a quiet act of opposition. The authorities tried to remove it: Wikipedia counts three bulldozings, with roads blocked, the site guarded and people who brought crosses arrested and punished, and other accounts, among them National Geographic’s, date the first clearance to April 1961 and count more after it (as indexed). Each time, crosses came back, often carried up at night. After 1990 their number grew fast.

A pope’s visit, and a living craft. Pope John Paul II came on 7 September 1993 and called it a place of hope, peace, love and sacrifice; a Franciscan hermitage opened nearby in 2000, its interior echoing La Verna, the Italian mountain where St Francis is said to have received the stigmata. The carved crosses belong to a tradition that UNESCO listed in 2001 among the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity: Lithuanian cross-crafting, oak crosses one to five metres high carved with sun, bird and tree-of-life motifs, often with small roofs and statuettes, put up by roadsides, in cemeteries and as offerings, Wikipedia records.

The field notes

Leaving a cross

Visitors still add crosses. Since May 2013, rules adopted by the Šiauliai District Municipality allow anyone to put up a wooden cross less than 3 metres high without a permit, Wikipedia records, citing the district tourism centre. Most of what people leave is far smaller: a cross a hand high, a rosary hung on a bigger cross, a name written on a strip of wood.

The craftsmen

The makers of Lithuanian crosses, kryždirbiai, travelled the country, and the best known, the self-taught Vincas Svirskis (1835–1916), carved crosses that once stood across central Lithuania and are now kept in national museums, Wikipedia records. Its account puts the number of cross-craftsmen at work in Lithuania today at more than 200.

A low hill bristling with thousands of crosses rises beyond a long meadow and a paved path lined with benches, under a summer sky of white cloud

The hill seen across the fields from the visitor path, June 2023.

Photograph: dave massie · Z9P 4209 (53110465286) · CC BY 2.0 · cropped

Close view of a worn ochre wooden cross hung with a beaded rosary and a small metal crucifix, rows of grey crosses fading into the distance

A weathered cross with a rosary and a small crucifix, the hill behind.

Photograph: B. Villalba · CC BY-SA 4.0

A silver-grey, weather-cracked wooden figure of Christ carved on a massive wooden cross against a deep-blue sky

A carved wooden Christ on one of the large crosses.

Photograph: Dudva · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tally’s list
  1. Come early, or out of season, when the rosaries are louder than the coaches.
  2. Try to count them on the way round. (Abandoned the count at a figure I would rather not write down. The list has not counted its own items for years, and now I see why.)
  3. If you bring a cross of your own, keep it small, plant it where there is space, and move nobody else’s.
  4. Read a few of the names as you walk, and pause at every one you read.
  5. Afterwards, sit by the stream below the mound for a while before driving on.
The Relic

An oak cross with a little roof. Among the small crosses on the hill stand tall ones in the Lithuanian tradition: carved from oak, one to five metres high, their arms and tops worked with suns, birds, flowers and the tree of life, often with a small pitched roof over a carved figure to keep the rain off, by Wikipedia’s account of Lithuanian cross-crafting, which UNESCO listed in 2001. Each was made for somebody, for a reason that is theirs. They are seen, and left where they stand.

Tally, in the marginI lingered at one, trying to make out the carving, the suns, the birds, the small figure sat under its roof with his chin on his hand, and only slowly grasped why he had a roof at all. Somebody had wanted him kept dry. That was the part I could not easily walk away from.

Getting there

How to get there. By road. The Hill of Crosses lies about 12 km north of Šiauliai, off the road towards Joniškis and Riga, Wikipedia records; Šiauliai has rail and bus links from Vilnius and Kaunas, and local buses towards Joniškis stop at Domantai, about 2 km’ walk from the hill (travel guides, as indexed). By car it is about three hours from Vilnius [Est.: about 215 km] and about two from Riga in Latvia [Est.: about 130 km]. Entry to the hill is free.

When to go. Any time of year; the hill is open ground. Early morning and evening are quietest. Summer brings the most visitors and the longest days; in winter the crosses stand in snow.

What to arrange ahead. Nothing, unless you mean to leave a cross: bring it with you, wooden, and under 3 metres, the limit below which no permit is needed.

Safety. The State Department has Lithuania at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level; it calls Lithuania generally a safe destination (advisory dated 28 April 2026 in its feed, read 7 October 2026). The hazards are small: uneven paths among the crosses and, in winter, ice.

Mark this place

Europe and the North Atlantic →

Common questions

Where is the Hill of Crosses?

The Hill of Crosses, Kryžių kalnas, is about 12 km north of the city of Šiauliai in northern Lithuania, on a former hill fort known as the Jurgaičiai or Domantai hill fort. It is a Catholic pilgrimage site covered in crosses left by visitors.

How many crosses are on the Hill of Crosses?

Nobody knows. Lithuanian heritage estimates cited by Wikipedia put the number of crosses on the Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai at about 55,000 in 1990 and about 100,000 in 2006. Later figures from travel writers are higher, but none rests on a published count.

How did the Hill of Crosses begin?

The origin of the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania is uncertain. The account Wikipedia gives is that crosses first appeared on the old Jurgaičiai hill fort after the uprising of 1831 against the Russian Empire, put up by families who could not find the bodies of rebels who had died.

Did the Soviets destroy the Hill of Crosses?

Soviet authorities in Lithuania bulldozed the Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai repeatedly: Wikipedia counts three clearances, and National Geographic dates the first to April 1961. Visitors were arrested and the roads blocked, but people replaced the crosses each time, often by night.

Can you leave a cross at the Hill of Crosses?

Yes. Since May 2013, rules of Lithuania’s Šiauliai District Municipality allow visitors to put up a wooden cross under 3 metres high on the Hill of Crosses without a permit. Most visitors leave much smaller crosses or rosaries.

Did a pope visit the Hill of Crosses?

Yes. Pope John Paul II visited the Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai, Lithuania, on 7 September 1993 and called it a place of hope, peace, love and sacrifice. A Franciscan hermitage opened beside it in 2000.

What is Lithuanian cross-crafting?

Lithuanian cross-crafting is the folk art of carving tall crosses, usually of oak, decorated with sun, bird and tree-of-life motifs and often with small roofs and statuettes. UNESCO proclaimed it a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001, and the Hill of Crosses holds many examples.

How do you get to the Hill of Crosses?

The Hill of Crosses is about 12 km north of Šiauliai, in northern Lithuania, off the road to Joniškis and Riga. Šiauliai has rail and bus links from Vilnius and Kaunas, and local buses stop at Domantai, about 2 km from the hill; by car it is about three hours from Vilnius.

Notes on sources. This entry draws on the State Department’s Lithuania travel advisory, read directly from its feed (travel.state.gov/_res/rss/TAsTWs.xml) on 7 October 2026: Level 1, exercise normal precautions, dated 28 April 2026. Wikipedia’s articles on the Hill of Crosses, Lithuanian cross crafting and Šiauliai, read directly, and the references they cite (Lithuania’s Millennium of Cultural Heritage virtual exhibition for the 1990 and 2006 estimates; Algimantas Semaška’s guide to Lithuania, 2006; Vilma Narkutė in New Blackfriars, 2006, on the Church under Soviet rule; the Šiauliai district tourism centre’s visiting rules of 16 May 2013; UNESCO’s intangible heritage lists; the Lithuanian National Culture Centre; the BBC, 2017), supplied the site’s position and hill fort, what pilgrims leave, the estimates of 1990 and 2006, the origin after the uprisings of 1831 and 1863, the interwar years, the Soviet persecution, the three bulldozings Wikipedia counts and the arrests and road blocks, the growth after 1990, the papal visit of 7 September 1993 and its words, the Franciscan hermitage of 2000, the rules on crosses under 3 metres, cross-crafting, its listing by UNESCO in 2001, its forms and motifs, Vincas Svirskis and the number of craftsmen. These were reached only through their indexed text, because their own sites were blocked from this session: National Geographic (the first clearance in April 1961 and the later ones), and travel guides (the bus to Domantai and the walk from it). Road distances from Vilnius and Riga are this entry’s estimates, marked as such. Checked 7 October 2026. Written and fact-checked by SockMonkey.com. Last reviewed 7 October 2026.