Bernardine Cemetery

Entrance to the cemetery

Chapel in the cemetery, built to commemorate the consecration of the cemetery

The Bernardine Cemetery (Template:Lang-lt), is one of the three oldest cemeteries in Vilnius, Lithuania. It covers about 38,000 square metres and has an estimated 14,000 burial sites. It was established in 1810 by the Bernardine monks of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, just east of the city center in the Užupis district, and is situated on an embankment of the Vilnia river. Its development was a consequence of Tsarist authorities of the Russian Empire prohibiting burying the dead near churches. The residents of Vilnius moved the cemetery to what was then the outskirts of the city.

Columbaria were built on the east and west sides of the cemetery. The cemetery was expanded in 1860. After the Second World War the cemetery was abandoned for the most part and began to deteriorate. It was closed in the 1970s and since then has remained almost unchanged. Many of the oldest graves have sunk into the ground and are covered in moss. The Eastern columbarium has almost entirely disappeared. Some restoration and reconstruction of its buildings and monuments, including the western columbarium, began in the late 1990s. It is a joint Lithuanian and Polish effort.

Famous graves

Numerous famous scientists, painters and Vilnius University, intellectuals, professors and other renowned people are buried there including:

• Helena Dzierżyńska (1849-1896), Felix Dzerzhinsky's mother.
• Stanisław Bonifacy Jundziłł (1761–1847), botanist and florist, professor of the Vilnius University and head of the Vilnius Botanical Garden
• Stanisław Fleury (1861-1915), artist and photographer.
• Vytautas Kairiūkštis (1890–1961), Lithuanian painter
• Kazimieras Kairiūkštis (1886–1918), engineer
• Valdas Herkus Neimantas (1963–2006), the main designer of Užupis Republic
• Antanas Ramonas (1946–1993), writer
• Stanisław Rosołowski (1797–1855), writer and doctor
• Ludwik Sobolewski (1791–1830), writer and historian, prefect of the Vilnius University Library
• Józef Szeliga-Bieliński (1848–1926), physician and historian, the first honorary professor of the Stefan Batory University

See also

• Rasos Cemetery
• Antakalnis Cemetery

References

• Template:Lt icon Kviklys, Bronius (1985). Lietuvos bažnyčios. V tomas: Vilniaus arkiviskupija, I dalis. Chicago, Illinois: Lithuanian Library Press. p. 414. ISBN 0-932042-54-6.
• Department of Cultural Heritage Protection under Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania. "E-MEM project presentation" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-01-09.

External links

• Series of photos of the cemetery