Visit Siauliai

First impressions of Siauliai

Šiauliai is best visited as the gateway to the Hill of Crosses (Kryžių kalnas), one of the most haunting sites in the Baltic states — a low hill 12km north of the city covered, by some counts, in over 100,000 crucifixes, rosaries, statues of saints, and small carved wayside crosses left by pilgrims since the early 19th century. The Soviet authorities bulldozed it three times — 1961, 1973, and 1975 — and each time the crosses were quietly replanted overnight, making the hill a powerful symbol of Lithuanian Catholic resistance. Pope John Paul II visited in 1993 and called it a place of hope. The city itself, the country's fourth-largest, has the wonderfully odd Photography Museum (housed in the world's first photo museum, opened 1974, with a collection that traces Soviet-era life), the Cat Museum (yes, an entire museum devoted to felines, with over 14,000 items), the Bicycle Museum (Šiauliai's Vairas factory made the country's bikes for decades), and the Chocolate Museum (set in a working chocolate factory). Šiauliai Cathedral with its dramatic 70m tower (the country's tallest religious sundial as bonus) dominates the central square. Combine the trip with the lovely Kryžka manor house just east of town.