Sapanta Merry Cemetery

Even death can become funny

The fame of Sapanta comes from its well-known Merry Cemetery which has become an important tourist attraction.

It is famous for its colourful tombstones with naïve paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the people who are buried there as well as scenes from their lives. The Merry Cemetery became an open-air museum and a national tourist attraction.

The scenes are simple and really in a  naïve  style but they bring from the past the life of the villagers, showing an outstanding aspect of each person’ s life. They present women spinning the wool, weaving carpets or baking bread, men that cut wood or plough the land, shepherds with their flocks, wood workers, folk fiddlers and many other occupations.

After the cross is sculpted, it is usually painted with a blue background – the so-called “Săpânţa Blue“. The scenes are painted in lively colours: yellow, red, white and green.