Merry Cemetery - Cimitirul Vesel - Săpânța Maramureș

Săpânța Village lies just 4 kilometers from the border of Ukraine. I was told to carry my passport with me because the border police drive around and check. It didn't happen but we saw them everywhere. Locals are allowed to go back and forth over the border but foreigners are not allowed to cross here. The town is famous for its cemetery, unique for the colorfully painted wooden crosses that adorn the tombstones.
Ive seen these tiled houses in villages around Romania but there were tons here. They are really beautiful and done in all tiles.

This house isn't tile but it is very detailed.

This hat is very traditional in Romania and the men still wear them. I'm not sure why because it doesn't protect from the sun at all and they look really funny.Intricately carved gate. They are making wool yarn.

The creator of the cemetery lived in the village and his house is a museum today. The cemetery apprentices still live and work at the house today carrying on the tradition of the cemetery. The cemetery was the creation of Ioan Stan Patraș who was a simple wood sculptor. In 1935, he started carving crosses to mark the graves in the church cemetery. He painted each cross in blue which is the traditional color of hope and freedom. On top of each, he inscribed a witty poem to the deceased.In the museum, various pictures carved in wood and painted by Patraș are displayed. These include portraits of members of the Executive Committee of the Communist Party, and a portrait of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu carved in honor of Ceaușescu's visit to Săpânța in 1974.This guy was a butcherThis guy died in Paris while rollerblading in the Subway.

A monk calling villagers to prayer

Dumitru Pop, the first apprentice to Pătraș. Prior to his death in 1977, Pătraș designed and painted his own cross, complete with a portrait of himself. In his poem he talks about the cross he bore all his life, working to support his family since his father's death when he was 14 years old.

Seller in the Market of traditional crafts

Military

It is said that this joyful attitude towards death is a legacy of the Dacian people who believed in the immortality of the soul and that death was only a passage to a better life. They did not see death as a tragic end, but as a chance to meet with the supreme God.

Run over by a train

The crosses are made out of oak. The scenes on the crosses bring back to life the villagers and present their main occupation or a relevant aspect of their life, either a virtue or a flaw. There are women spinning wool or weaving rugs, housewives baking bread, men logging wood, musicians playing instruments, butchers chopping lambs, teachers at their desks, alchoholics and many more.

The taxi car didnt have time to stop before it hit the three year old little girl in front of her house.

This one is creepy. It is supposed to be a little girl but she has boobs carved and men looking at her.

This one is a man from the Communist Party with the label of the Party in his hand.

Playing backgammon, a common past time here. The parks are always full of old men playing this and chess.