Virtual Exhibition
STAN IOAN PATRAS     MERRY CEMETERY

A most unusual cemetery exists in the Village of Sapanta, Maramures County, Romania. It is filled with fantastic folk art markers that were created by Stan Ioan Patras (1908-1977), based upon regional arts and crafts traditions coupled with cultural beliefs.

Around 1935 Patras began sculpting wonderful oak tomb markers, which visually reflect some aspect of the life of the person buried there. There are now approximately 800 such personalized carvings, each brightly decorated with poems, relief panels and traditional colored polychroming. The name Merry Cemetery references belief in the immortality of the soul and the joyous hope that the departed persons spirit has moved on to a better place. Merry Cemetery is now a popular open-air museum visited by countless tourists.

One humorous inscription reads: "Now I will tell you a good one. I kind of liked the plum tuica (plum alcohol). With my friends at the pub, I used to forget what I came for." Colorful relief carved images of decorative crosses, tractors, automobiles and people portrayed in various occupations and activities are found throughout the burial ground. Merry Cemetery is an atypical one-person outdoor art exhibition, which celebrates life in its own unique way.