Roadside Orthodox Crosses Near Hajnowka, Podlasie Royalty-Free Stock Photo

oadside crosses and chapels are monuments of sacred culture that are witnesses and reminders of history. You can see the interpenetration of different cultures existing in these areas. They were built for different reasons and at different times...Crosses were placed in important places, near the church in the center of a settlement or village, thus marking its central point at the beginning or end of the village, marking its boundaries at the crossroads where those who departed were said goodbye in the place where the bones of people affected by the plague or those killed in army skirmishes were found. They were also placed along paths leading to the forest or at the edge of fields. Roadside crosses have inscriptions in Russian, Belarusian or Ukrainian carved or painted with paint. Crosses were also erected to commemorate the sudden death of a person it was believed that his soul would not find peace until a roadside cross or a shrine was erected.