Powązki Cemetery

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Powązki Cemetery

Cemetery Details
Year established: November 4, 1790[1]
Country: Poland
Location: Warsaw
Type: Public
Size: 106,25 acres (0,43 km²)[1]
Number of gravesites: 60,000+
Website: Web Site

Powązki Cemetery (Polish Cmentarz Powązkowski) is the oldest and most famous cemetery in Warsaw, Poland, and is situated in the western part of the city. It contains a mausoleum with memorials to many of the greats in Polish history, including many interred since 1925 along the "Avenue of the Meritorious" (Aleja Zasłużonych, est. 1925). It has also a very large military section for the graves of those who fought and died for their country since the early 19th century, including the large number of those involved in the ill-fated Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis during World War II, the Battle of Warsaw, and the September Campaign.

Contents

[edit] Details

Powązki is actually a necropolis, consisting of a whole complex of cemeteries. In 1790, most cemeteries in the Warsaw city centre were closed for sanitary reasons, and a new Catholic cemetery was created in the western suburb of Powązki. Soon afterwards, several other cemeteries were founded in the area: Jewish, Calvinist, Lutheran, Caucassian and Tatar. The Orthodox cemetery is located not far from the Powązki necropolis.

The latest addition to the complex was the "Military cemetery," currently known as the "Communal cemetery." It was founded in 1912 as an annex to the Catholic cemetery, but after Poland regained independence in 1918, it became the state cemetery, where some of the most notable people of the period were buried, regardless of their faith. Like many of the old European cemeteries, Powązki's tombstones were created by some of the most renowned sculptors of the age, Polish and foreign. Some of the monuments are excellent examples of various styles in art and architecture.

On All Saints Day (November 1) and Zaduszki (November 2) in Warsaw, vigils are held not only in the Roman Catholic cemeteries, but in the Protestant, Muslim, Jewish and Orthodox cemeteries as well. At Powązki cemetery, all the graves are decorated with candles.

A large part of the cemetery is occupied by graves of Polish soldiers who fell in the Warsaw Uprising. Most of the graves were exhumated between 1945 and 1953 from the streets of Warsaw. In many cases, the names of the soldiers remain unknown, and the graves are marked only by the Polish Red Cross identification number. Until the early 1950s, brothers-in-arms of many fallen soldiers organised exhumations of their colleagues on their own, and there are many quarters where soldiers of specific units are buried. Also in the cemetery are several mass graves of (mostly unknown) civilian victims of the German terror during World War II and of the Warsaw Uprising.

Graves of Polish soldiers who fell during the 1939 invasion of Poland
Graves of Polish soldiers who fell during the 1939 invasion of Poland

[edit] Notable people

A few of the notables buried here are:

Graves of Polish soldiers who died in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising
Graves of Polish soldiers who died in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising

The Jewish Cemetery, located on Okopowa Street next to the Protestant Cemetery and near the Powazki necropolis, was established between 1799 and 1806. Some of the prominent Jewish citizens buried here are:

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Historia Cmentarza Powązkowskiego (Polish). Retrieved on June 10, 2008.

[edit] Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:


Tomb of Bolesław Prus

Tomb of Julian Tuwim

Old Powązki

Graves of Polish soldiers who fell during the 1939 invasion of Poland

1939 section

Mausoleum of Bolesław Bierut

Graves of soldiers fallen during the 1920 Battle of Warsaw

Grave of Władysław Szpilman

Tomb of Jacek Kuroń

Tombs of Józef Beck and Jan Jankowski

Tomb of Gen. Walerian Czuma and his brother

Graves of three female Polish soldiers who fell during the 1939 invasion of Poland.

[edit] See also

Coordinates: 52°15′03″N, 20°58′14″E