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The Bernardine Cemetery (Template:Lang-pl, Template:Lang-lt), 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.

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

See also

• Rasos Cemetery
• Antakalnis Cemetery
• List of cemeteries

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

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54°40′48″N 25°18′25″E / 54.680°N 25.307°E / 54.680; 25.307

• Vilnius
• Cemeteries in Lithuania
• History of Lithuania
• Lithuania geography stubs