Merry Cemetery

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The Merry Cemetery is a cemetery in the village of Săpânța, Maramureş county, Romania. It is famous for its colourful tombstones with naïve paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the people who are buried there as well as scenes from their lives. The Merry Cemetery became an open-air museum and a national tourist attraction.

The unusual feature of this cemetery is that it diverges from the prevalent belief, culturally shared within European societies – a belief that views death as something indelibly solemn. Connections with the local Dacian culture have been made, a culture whose philosophical tenets presumably vouched for the immortality of the soul and the belief that death was a moment filled with joy and anticipation for a better life (see also Zalmoxianism).

A collection of the epitaphs from the Merry Cemetery exist in a 2017 volume called Crucile de la Săpânța, compiled by author Roxana Mihalcea.

The founder

The cemetery’s origins are linked with the name of Stan Ioan Pătraş, a local artist who sculpted the first tombstone crosses. In 1935, Pătraș carved the first epitaph and, as of the 1960s, more than 800 of such oak wood crosses came into sight. The inscription on his tombstone cross says:

RomanianDe cu tînăr copilaș Io am fost Stan Ion Pătraș Să mă ascultaț oameni buni Ce voi spune nu-s minciuniCîte zile am trăit Rău la nime n-am dorit Dar bine cît-am putut Orișicine mia cerutVai săraca lumea mea Că greu am trăit în ea

EnglishSince I was a little boy I was known as Stan Ion Pătraş Listen to me, fellows There are no lies in what I am going to sayAll along my life I meant no harm to anyone But did good as much as I could To anyone who askedOh, my poor World Because It was hard living in it

Funny epitaphs

RomanianSub această cruce grea Zace biata soacră-mea Trei zile de mai trăia Zăceam eu și cetea ea. Voi care treceți pă aici Incercați să n-o treziți Că acasă dacă vine Iarăi cu gura pă mine Da așa eu m-oi purta Că-napoi n-a înturna Stai aicea dragă soacră-mea

EnglishUnder this heavy cross Lies my poor mother in-law Three more days should she have lived I would lie, and she would read (this cross). You, who here are passing by Not to wake her up please try Cause’ if she comes back home She’ll criticise me more. But I will surely behave So she’ll not return from grave. Stay here, my dear mother in-law!

Read an article about other beautiful place in this area – Wooden Churches of Maramures