16 kilometers Northwest of Sighet, in Maramures, Romania, lays one of the country’s most bizarre yet famous tourist attractions – Sapanta (pronounced Sa-pan-tza), the Merry Cemetery. It all started in 1935, when a wood sculpture by the name of Stan Ion Patras started adding images and personal epitaphs to the crosses he sculpted. The images on the crosses illustrated the dead person’s occupation, circumstances of death or character, while the epitaphs are verses with advice or apologies to the family of the deceased.
People’s sad stories are told with humor, a trait that makes this place unique and unlike any others in the world. It adds some drops of humor, where you would usually find pain and tears. To make sure it doesn’t strike a nerve, Patras usually asked for the family’s approval on the life anecdotes he would come up with. The most common anecdotes are about farmers or honest merchants, while the gloomiest include rhymes about womanizers, murderers and Communist Party members.
“This is where I rest Moldovan Gheorghe is my name. I worked a lot with horses As long as I lived And now I come on a horse back To bring firewood for sale To those that have none. But I have come to the end of the road And have come to rest I would have liked to live longer And not come here to rot. I left this world at age of 59. Died in 1986.” (One of the anecdotes found on a cross in Sapanta)
The Merry Cemetery also holds the village’s memories of the World War II, Communism or nationalization for the last 65 years, Master Stan Ion Patras died in 1977, but his work is carried on by two apprentices that struggled to keep his work alive - Toader Turda and Stan Vasile. And, even though the cemetery is an attraction worth seeing, it still functions as the community’s burial ground.
sources: Wikimedia, glenpooh
Popularity: 1% [?]
HotelClub Travel Blog is where the weird, the wacky and the wonderful world of travel comes together. You will find posts on green/environmentally friendly travel ideas, interesting and obscure destinations and hotels as well as posts about the cultural side of travel. We also feature 
Loading ...
Going out in style…….
Going out in style…..