Discovery of the Cross
Far-famed, demonstrated to the world, the Hill of Crosses is still more of an enigma than an answer. With several names, without origin, without apparent content. A mound? A place of a pagan cult? Cemetery? A monument to misery, struggle, the Christian faith? Once the crosses built here meant a challenge to the Communist regime. Up comes a truck and wipes it all away, but the crosses keep growing back. For the love of the sign? For the belief that it is all beautiful, original, Lithuanian? For or against what does this forest of crosses speak up nowadays?
Before poets and theologians start praising the Hill of Crosses, photographers are singing about it one after another. Edis Jurčys is one of them. The perils are great. To pick out the best spots. To enjoy the authenticity of the place. To lose curiosity and wonder. To stop asking what brings here not only tourist groups. Finally, in that sea of crosses, to stop looking for a hint of what redeemed and goes on redeeming the world. Every photograph taken here runs a risk to touch banality. But sometimes the desire to discover the cross can be stronger.
Julius Sasnauskas
