The Merry Cemetery - Sapanta, Romania

Our trip over the mountains and into Maramures brought us to the city of Sighetu Marmatiei. This is a town that borders on Ukraine.  The next morning, we headed a few miles west to Sapanta, home of The Merry Cemetery.  For anyone traveling in the northern part of Romania, this is a "must-see."


Begun by a local artist in 1935, the cemetery features wooden markers carved with an image and a story about the person buried below.  The field of markers is a bit overwhelming at first glance:


But you soon focus in on a single marker like the farmer or the office worker.


There are many, many references to this cemetery on the internet.  The easiest way to see more is to follow this link to Google Images for sapanta merry cemetery.

After seeing the cemetery, we headed to lunch at the nearby Ileana's Bed and Breakfast. Ileana's daughter, Maria showed us the operation of the loom while a young woman behind us showed photos on a computer to one of her older neighbors. This was an interesting study in contrast of technology.


Maria served an excellent meatball soup along with a later main course and dessert.