HAPPY CEMETERY – Sapanta, Romania

Happy Cemetery (Merry Cemetery), Sapanta. Both the church and surrounding cemetery must be seen to be believed. All the grave markers are fantastic wood painted creations. Topped with a gable roof, each is a narrow rectangle with colourful geometric borders, a long inscription with dates (I wish I could read Romanian to understand what they said) and best of all an intricate folk carving about the deceased – the men usually their occupation (farmer, logger, butcher, military, policemen) and the women, their crafts or daily routine (cooking, knitting, spinning, working at a loom). Most have the reverse side painted similarly. The wood slabs are attached to a cement rectangle with metal cleats. There are hundreds, maybe thousands.

The church is equally fantastic with high stone walls topped by intricate brick surrounding mosaics of saints around the entire building. The white cement buttresses also have mosaics – they use ceramic images for some tiles. The huge tower terminates in a spike of spire and a lovely cross. The roof of the spire and church is green with multi-coloured tiles. Wow.
The interior of the church was plain white cement but was in the process of being plastered and painted. The apse was full of scaffolding and the back of the apse had been finished with typical frescoes. About 6 men from Bucharest were painting the dome of the apse and side walls. The plan was to paint the entire church – taking two years. The shallow dome in the centre of the nave was a rich mosaic of Mary surrounded by 8 angels. I even watched the guy make the plaster.5 Lei

From the write-up at the entrance of the church: On the banks of the Tisa River and dominated by the Carpathian Peaks, Sapanta is a town of 3500. The people are attached to lands, and independent spirits and have respect for customs and traditions, especially the Orthodox religion. At Sunday service, the people wear traditional costumes and forget their quarrels and misunderstandings.
The forest was the basis of the economy and wood is everywhere in the architecture, floral motifs and sun and moon. The Romanian peasant has never been afraid of death, a gateway to eternal rest, a natural event accepted as fate.
The cemetery is the centre of the community with 800 folk art monuments and a true and complex outdoor museum. The cemetery is the lifetime work of the renowned painter, folk sculptor and poet Ion Stan Pâtros and was continued by Dimitru Pop. The crosses are carved from oak, painted in “Sapanta” blue with an epitaph written in short verses of simple lyrics and full of spirit and grace. It includes the name and what was essential in their life, their thoughts, concerns and feelings, state of mind, virtues, vices, some with a touch of humour. Many relate dramas and tragedies – war, oppression or the death of a loved one.
The painting shows them in important moments of their life. It is an attempt to look at life differently. Death is not first but rather the rush of life.