From the river Vilnia, I climb 319 steps, variously made of stone and steel, plus another steep path, which bypasses an additional 100-plus steps of crumbling concrete, to reach the Three Crosses monument.
I don’t usually visit these sorts of structures.
I find it hard to feel compassion for the martyrs of invading religions, in this case fourteen Franciscan monks.
Where are the monuments for the pagan martyrs? I’m tempted to scream!
Alas, I digress; the purpose of this traveling text is not to rant.
Three Crosses monument is, to me, a story about tenacity.
One must exert effort to reach the Three Crosses and I can see many old people climbing the stairs, as well as young people who are terribly out of shape.
These modern pilgrims have tenacity.
They will not quit in their quest to reach the monument.
Likewise, the story of the monument is one of tenacity.
Erected initially in the mid 1300s, the three wooden crosses were routinely replaced until concrete crosses were erected in 1916, when the German occupation of Lithuania was loosening.
During the Soviet occupation, the Russians, similar to most invading countries, did what the Russians are good at doing when they don’t like something.
They blow it up.
And in 1950, that is what they did to the Three Crosses, burying the rubble, attempting to erase it completely from history.
It wasn’t until 1989, at the end of the Soviet occupation, that the people of Vilnius were able to put their coins together to rebuild the monument into its current state.
That’s tenacity.
