One origin tale tells the story of a farmer who was mourning the loss of his daughter and placed a cross on a nearby hill as a wish for her safe passage into the next life. The practice caught on and eventually it became a site of pilgrimmage where people far and wide would come to offer their prayers, wishes and hopes in the form of a cross.

During the Soviet reign of the territory, the site was bulldozed, but visitors were undaunted and continued to plant crosses. Bulldozed again and surrounded with barbed wire, crosses were continued to be planted in the dead of night thus transforming it into a symbol of resilience.

With the fall of communism, the site now flourishes and it is estimated there are now over 100,000 crosses there, each representing someone’s hope, prayer, wishes, or dream. Someone’s story.