Page 279 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

WESTERN LITHU ANIA  277

2 Hill of Crosses
VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
Kryžių kalnas
Practical Information Jurgaičių village. Road: Map C4.
Road Map C4. * 115,000. @ from Šiauliai. Tel (41) 370 860.
n Vilniaus gatvė 213, (41) 523 ∑ kryziukalnas.lt
110. _ Saulės Žiedas Folk
Festival (Jul), Šiauliai City Days One of Lithuania’s most awe-
(Sep). ∑ tic.siauliai.lt inspiring sights, this saddle-
Transport shaped knoll in a field filled with
£ Višinkio gatvė 44, S of thousands of cros ses, crucifixes
Draugystės prospektas. and rosaries is an insight into
@ Tilžės gatvė 109. the significance of Catholicism
to Lithuania.
Crosses started appearing
across the world, from Austria on the hill after the ruthless
Prominent tower of the Cathedral of to Zambia, this museum is a suppression of the 1831
Sts Peter and Paul haven for catlovers. Established uprising against Tsarist Russian
in May 1990, the museum has rule. By the end of the 19th
burned down and in 1625, the exhibits of cats in every con- century, 150 large crosses stood
existing one was built in stone ceivable pose cramming the here, 200 by 1914, and many
to give it more permanence. display area. They have been more by the time the Soviets
Seen from afar, the cathedral’s crafted from porcelain, came to occupy
gleaming white 70-m (230-ft) amber, marble, crys- Lithuania in 1940.
tower makes the building look tal, glass and other Seen by the
more modern than it actually is. mate rials. There atheist regime
The cathedral is built in are cats in as an unneces-
Renaissance style with some stained-glass sary religious
features typical of medieval windows, cats in sym bol, the Hill
architecture. Its thick walls are artistic photo- of Crosses was
accompanied by details that graphs, cats on Colourful wooden cats, hacked down in
appear to have been defensive postage stamps, in Cat Museum 1961, but the crosses
but in fact were not. On the books and on cards. reappeared soon after.
southern side of the cathedral is Interesting odes to cats have It was bulldozed in 1973 and
Lithuania’s oldest sundial. Sts been collected in over 4,000 again in 1975, but the crosses
Peter and Paul Church was ele- poems written in various kept appearing. Finally, the hill
vated to cathedral status in 1997. languages. There are lamps was left in peace. By the time
with cats as ornamen tation as Pope John Paul II visited it, in
Sundial Square well as furniture and a set of 1993, it had crosses and religious
Ežero gatvė. banisters with delightful sculptures from all over the
A sundial was erected in the feline designs. country and around the world.
square in 1986 to mark the
750th anniversary of the Battle
of the Sun. The slender sundial,
surmounted by a sculpture of a
golden archer, towers over
Lake Talšos.
Sundial Square is laid out like
an amphitheatre and brings
together three significant
symbols of the city – the archer
Šaulys, after whom, according
to legend, the city was named;
the sun, images of which can be
found all over Šiauliai; and time,
represented on the square by the
numbers of the clock, 12, 3, and
6, which when brought together
form the date of the battle.
E Cat Museum
Žuvininkų 18. Tel 6836 9844.
Open 10am–5pm Tue–Sat. &
With almost 10,000 exhibits,
not just from Lithuania but Collection of crosses in all shapes and sizes at the Hill of Crosses
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp306–307 and pp330–31

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