Bernardine Cemetery

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Entrance to the cemetery

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

The Bernardine Cemetery (Lithuanian: Bernardinų kapinės), is one of the three oldest cemeteries in Vilnius, Lithuania. It covers about 38,000 square metres and has estimated 14,000 burials. It was established in 1810 by Bernardine monks of the St. Bernardin church and is situated on an embankment on the Vilnia river, just east of the city center in the Užupis district. It was established when Tsarist authorities of the Russian Empire prohibited to bury the dead near churches. Residents of Vilnius moved the cemetery what was then outskirts of the city.

In the east and west the cemetery was surrounded by columbariums. The cemetery was expanded in 1860. After World War II the cemetery was practically abandoned and started deteriorating. It was closed in the 1970's and since then remained almost unchanged. Many of the oldest graves are sinking into the ground and covered in moss. Eastern columbarium is almost entirely gone. Some restoration and reconstruction of its buildings and monuments, including western columbarium, began in the late 1990s. It is a joint Lithuanian and Polish effort.

1 Famous graves
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Famous graves

Numerous famous scientists, painters and Vilnius University professors are buried there including:

Stanisław Bonifacy Jundziłł (1761–1847), botanist and florist, professor of the Vilnius University and head of the Vilnius Botanical Garden
Vytautas Kairiūkštis (1890–1961), Lithuanian painter
Kazimieras Kairiūkštis (1886–1918), engineer
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

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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