The Merry Cemetery is in the Romanian village of Săpânța, close to the Ukrainian border. Whilst in many societies, death is regarded as sad and solemn, the Merry Cemetery is famous for its brightly coloured tombstones.
It began in 1935 when Stan Ioan Pătraş began carving clever or ironic poems, in the local dialect. One said ‘Underneath this heavy cross. Lies my mother-in-law poor… Try not to wake her up. For if she comes back home. She’ll bite my head off.’
The poems were accompanied by images often bearing the deceased’s image or profession and we spotted men driving tractors or herding animals, with women cooking or weaving. Some depicted the manner of death with one lady being run over by a car.
The colours were not just bright, but symbolic with green representing life, yellow fertility, red for passion and black for death. However, the common denominator was the background colour of deep blue, known as Săpânţa blue, which Pătraş believed represented hope, freedom, and the sky. A pair of white doves were often depicted for the soul.
When Stan Ioan Pătraş died in 1977, his own cross, directly in front of the church, was painted by two apprentices: Turda Toader Sepe and Stan Vasile Colțun. Unfortunately, a service was taking place in the Church of the Assumption, however we could see it was built in timber, had a tall, narrow steeple and with outer walls adorned with colourful frescoes.
We really enjoyed our visit, but to get the most from it, you need the witty epitaphs to be interpreted.
