A different way to look at death
Death is not always as grim as it seems. At least not in Sapanta – an unassuming village located in the Northern Romania, where at the “Merry Cemetery,” over 800 wooden crosses bear the life stories, humorous details, and final moments of the bodies they mark. The name of the cemetery was inspired by the epitaphs and satirical poems engraved on the crosses. A relevant episode in the departed person’s life – usually the one that caused his death is pictured on every cross. Each grave is marked with a lively carved wooden cross, decorated with a painting and an original poem that disclose a little something about the life and character of the plot’s eternal inhabitant.
The founder of the cemetery is considered to be Stan Ioan Pătraş, a local woodworker, poet and painter, who carved the first tombstone in 1935. Stan Ioan Pătraş developed a careful symbolism in his work. Green represented life, yellow represented fertility, red for passion, black for death. The colors were always set against a deep blue, which Pătraş believed represented hope, freedom, and the sky. Other symbolism – white doves for the soul, a black bird to represent a tragic death. After his death in 1977, Stan Ion Pătraş’ apprentice Dumitru Pop, took over the trade after his teacher died. Pop has since spent the last three decades continuing the work, and has turned the house into a workshop-museum.
It is speculated that the idea behind the Merry Cemetery lies in Romanian’s ancestors – the Dacians beliefs, who considered death as a reason for joy. Thus Săpânţa Cemetery is not a place of Death, but one of Revival. Under the brightly colored crosses, the “Dwellers” revive whenever someone visits them and invites you to discover their lives. Walking between crosses and graves, met the persons who is buried there, transformed the cemetery walking into a deep transformative experience. Death is part of our lives. How we relate to it is part of our life journey.
A different way to look at death
Death is not always as grim as it seems. At least not in Sapanta – an unassuming village located in the Northern Romania, where at the “Merry Cemetery,” over 800 wooden crosses bear the life stories, humorous details, and final moments of the bodies they mark. The name of the cemetery was inspired by the epitaphs and satirical poems engraved on the crosses. A relevant episode in the departed person’s life – usually the one that caused his death is pictured on every cross. Each grave is marked with a lively carved wooden cross, decorated with a painting and an original poem that disclose a little something about the life and character of the plot’s eternal inhabitant.
The founder of the cemetery is considered to be Stan Ioan Pătraş, a local woodworker, poet and painter, who carved the first tombstone in 1935. Stan Ioan Pătraş developed a careful symbolism in his work. Green represented life, yellow represented fertility, red for passion, black for death. The colors were always set against a deep blue, which Pătraş believed represented hope, freedom, and the sky. Other symbolism – white doves for the soul, a black bird to represent a tragic death. After his death in 1977, Stan Ion Pătraş’ apprentice Dumitru Pop, took over the trade after his teacher died. Pop has since spent the last three decades continuing the work, and has turned the house into a workshop-museum.
It is speculated that the idea behind the Merry Cemetery lies in Romanian’s ancestors – the Dacians beliefs, who considered death as a reason for joy. Thus Săpânţa Cemetery is not a place of Death, but one of Revival. Under the brightly colored crosses, the “Dwellers” revive whenever someone visits them and invites you to discover their lives. Walking between crosses and graves, met the persons who is buried there, transformed the cemetery walking into a deep transformative experience. Death is part of our lives. How we relate to it is part of our life journey.
