Wayside crosses in Romania

troițe); they are also called cruci la răscruci ("crossroads crosses", the northern part of Western Moldavia), răstigniri ("crucifixions", Maramureș), icoane ("icons", Vâlcea County), rugi ("stakes", Ținutul Pădurenilor [ro], Hunedoara County), cruci ("crosses", Transylvania and Oltenia), lemne ("wood beams", in old documents).

[2] The crosses recall a pre-Christian time when people would set up ritual columns or altars in places where the cosmic peace was disturbed by evil spirits, hoping to restore order.

Crossroads have also been attracted mystical powers since antiquity; their mythological significance acquired a religious one with the adoption of Christianity, given their cross shape.

Saints and angels are found lower down, with empty spaces filled by grape leaves, ears of wheat, floral or geometric patterns.

[6][7] A particular type of troiță proliferated in interwar Greater Romania: that dedicated to the fallen soldiers of World War I, and promoted by the Cultul Eroilor memorial society.

Another writer likened them to “beings kneeling in prayer”, protecting “this sacred land hallowed by the most precious Romanian blood and bodies”.

[10] The designers sought to integrate the crosses into their surroundings, as was the case with the ones set up in the military cemeteries near Curtea de Argeș Monastery and in Sinaia.

For example, at Odorhei in 1934, local politicians argued that placing a donated troiță in the city center would damage its aesthetics; it was instead relegated to the yard of the Gendarmerie school.

In 1925, one recalling Michael the Brave was unveiled on the site of the Battle of Șelimbăr near Sibiu; a lavish ceremony was organized by ASTRA and led by Nicolae Bălan.

Others so honored include Tudor Vladimirescu (Bucharest), Ilie Măcelar (Sibiu) and Aurel Vlaicu (Bănești, Prahova, near the site of his airplane crash).

[12] In 1934, Cultul Eroilor donated a concrete cross to Cercetașii României, unveiled during their jamboree at Mamaia in the presence of King Carol II.

They also preoccupied Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș (1909, 1928), Grigore Ionescu [ro], Tache Papahagi, and particularly George Oprescu, who called them "curious and impressive expressions of faith" that also satisfied "the remaining pagan superstition" left in the collective consciousness.