On September 7, 1993, Pope John Paul II visited this place and celebrated a mass in the open air in front of about 100,000 believers in the altar pavilion built especially for this purpose. During this ceremony, John Paul II entrusted the Franciscan order with the care of the place of pilgrimage and the building of a monastery. The laying of the foundation stone for this monastery building took place at the end of the 1990s. Designed by Italian architect Nunzio Rimmaudo, the building has two floors and is built in the shape of a Lithuanian cross around a cloister. It serves as a novitiate house for prospective monks as well as a place of prayer and contemplation. The monastery was inaugurated in July 2000 after two years of construction. The construction costs amounted to around 1.1 million euros. There is a small chapel on the ground floor. Behind the sanctuary, large glass windows offer a view of the Hill of Crosses. Furthermore, the ground floor offers space for a library, offices, the kitchen, the refectory and four guest rooms. Upstairs there are a total of 16 cells for friars, including 14 for novices. In 1994, the Vatican also donated a large cross with the figure of Christ, which was set up at the beginning of the small staircase that leads over the Hill of Crosses.
Since Lithuania's regained independence in 1991 and especially after the Pope's visit, Kreuzberg has been internationally regarded as a holy place for Catholics, which can be seen from the crosses with inscriptions from all over the world (Wikipedia).
Translated by Google •
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