Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden (Asia Biggest Tulip Garden), Srinagar, Kashmir, India

Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip garden is a tulip garden in Srinagar, Kashmir. It is the largest tulip garden in Asia spread over an area of about 30 hectares. It is situated on the foothills of Zabarwan Range with an overview of Dal Lake. The garden was opened in 2007 with the aim to boost floriculture and tourism in Kashmir Valley.

The garden is built on a sloping ground in a terraced fashion consisting of seven terraces. Apart from tulips, many other species of flowers - hyacinths, daffodils and ranunculus have been added as well.

A seven-terraced garden, Tulip Garden is also known as Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden after being known as Model Floriculture Center for a long time. The water channel running through the terraces adds more charm to the place. Sprawling in 30-hectares of land, this major tourist site in Srinagar comes to live during the spring season when the Tulip Festival is held annually. Opened to public, this festival aims at flaunting the natural beauty of the garden, the rich Kashmiri culture, and its handicraft and cuisine.

Tulip festival is an annual celebration that aims to showcase the range of flowers in the garden as a part of tourism efforts by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. It is organized during the onset of spring season in Kashmir valley.There are some added attractions in the Tulip Festival of 2019. Nature has bestowed the garden with more varieties of flowers this year. Moreover, visitors can avail the benefits of surplus facilities like free Wi-Fi, more fountains, washrooms and drinking points.

More green spaces are included in the garden area keeping in mind the comforts of the tourists. Extra plants like daffodils, hyacinths, narcissus and other ornamental plants are planted to ornate the area. Water channel running through the terraces will add charm to the garden.

Visitors will now be able to buy souvenirs and savor Kashmiri dishes from outside the garden area. This will be possible because of the decorated stalls and kiosks exhibiting cuisine and handicrafts of Kashmir.

Hill of Crosses, Northern Lithuania

Hill of Crosses is a site of pilgrimage about 12 km north of the city of Šiauliai, in northern Lithuania. The precise origin of the practice of leaving crosses on the hill is uncertain, but it is believed that the first crosses were placed on the former Jurgaičiai or Domantai hill fort after the 1831 Uprising. Over the generations, not only crosses and crucifixes, but statues of the Virgin Mary, carvings of Lithuanian patriots and thousands of tiny effigies and rosaries have been brought here by Catholic pilgrims. The exact number of crosses is unknown, but estimates put it at about 55,000 in 1990 and 100,000 in 2006. Over the generations, the place has come to signify the peaceful endurance of Lithuanian Catholicism despite the threats it faced throughout history. After the 3rd partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire. Poles and Lithuanians unsuccessfully rebelled against Russian authorities in 1831 and 1863. These two uprisings are connected with the beginnings of the hill: as families could not locate bodies of perished rebels, they started putting up symbolic crosses in place of a former hill fort.

                         

Over the generations, the place has come to signify the peaceful endurance of Lithuanian Catholicism despite the threats it faced throughout history. After the 3rd partition of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire. Poles and Lithuanians unsuccessfully rebelled against Russian authorities in 1831 and 1863. These two uprisings are connected with the beginnings of the hill: as families could not locate bodies of perished rebels, they started putting up symbolic crosses in place of a former hill fort.When the old political structure of Eastern Europe fell apart in 1918, Lithuania once again declared its independence. Throughout this time, the Hill of Crosses was used as a place for Lithuanians to pray for peace, for their country, and for the loved ones they had lost during the Wars of Independence.

The site took on a special significance during the years 1944–1990, when Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. Continuing to travel to the hill and leave their tributes, Lithuanians used it to demonstrate their allegiance to their original identity, religion and heritage. It was a venue of peaceful resistance, although the Soviets worked hard to remove new crosses, and bulldozed the site at least three times (including attempts in 1963 and 1973). There were even rumors that the authorities planned to build a dam on the nearby Kulvė River, a tributary to Mūša, so that the hill would end up underwater.

On September 7, 1993, Pope John Paul II visited the Hill of Crosses, declaring it a place for hope, peace, love and sacrifice. In 2000 a Franciscan hermitage was opened nearby. The interior decoration draws links with La Verna, the mountain where St. Francis is said to have received his stigmata. The hill remains under nobody's jurisdiction; therefore people are free to build crosses as they see fit.