Merry Cemetery - the most famous cemetery in Europe

Cimitirul Vesel is the cemetery located in northern Romania in the village called  Săpânța in the region Maramureș. This county is famous for carved wooden gates and wooden churches. The culture and tradition have been preserved in this region of Romania. We can find here old villages and houses which still have a vibe of the past.  The map presented below shows the location of Maramureș on the map of  Romania.

 

This cemetery is located in the first place of the funerals monuments in Europe and on the second place in the world. It is not just an usual cemetery because we won’t feel the sad atmosphere as in the others places like this. Here we will find something completely different. The Merry Cemetery is well known for its colorful decorations on the tombstones. The colors and the originality are visible everywhere. Here the death it’s not a sad event but it is converted into a fun event. Below we can see typical gravestones in the Merry Cemetery.

 

The Merry Cemetery was created by Stan Ioan Pătraş – sculptor, painter and poet. The beginnings of this place is estimated circa half of the 30s. The creativity of the artist has become the art. For 50 years Stan Ioan Pătraş has created almost one hundred crosses of wood in his characteristic style. After his dead in 1977 the art was continued by his student - Dumitru Pop Tincu.
Below the grave of the founder of the Merry Cemetery

 

What is more on the crosses there is always a short life story of the dead person. Usually they have a form of the poem written in a humorous way.  Below we can read the example of the inscription on the one of the grave located in cemetery. It describes a short history written by son in law about his mother in law:  

Romanian
Sub 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

English
Under 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!

 *the inscription taken from wikipedia.org