The Great Cemetery ( lv, Lielie kapi; german: Großer Friedhof) was formerly the principal

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

of Riga in Latvia, established in 1773. It was the main burial ground of the

Baltic Germans Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declin ...

in Latvia. Extensive damage and removal of many headstones and graves by the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

authorities governing the Latvian SSR after 1945 led to the suspension of burials and the eventual conversion of the burial ground to a public park. Despite this, a significant number of old graves have survived. The 22-hectare property is owned by the

Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Evaņģēliski luteriskā baznīca, or LELB) is a Lutheran Protestant church in Latvia. Latvia's Lutheran heritage dates back to the Reformation. Both the Nazi and communist regimes pe ...

Origins

Between 1771 and 1772, Catherine the Great, empress of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, decreed that no-one, regardless of their social standing or class origins, was to be buried in a church crypt or churchyard; all burials were to take place in the new cemeteries to be built throughout the entire Russian empire, which were to be located outside town boundaries. These measures were intended to overcome the congestion of urban church crypts and graveyards, and were prompted by a number of outbreaks of highly contagious diseases linked to inadequate burial practices in urban areas, especially the black plague which had led to the Plague Riot in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

in 1771. Against this background the Great Cemetery in Riga was founded in 1773. It served as a burial ground for over 170 years for almost all Baltic Germans who died in the city between 1773 and 1944. Additionally, numerous Latvians of upper social status were buried there as well. The cemetery was divided into three section: Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox Christian. One of the first to be (re-)buried there was the founder of the city,

Albert of Riga Albert of Riga or Albert of Livonia or Albrecht (german: Albert von Buxthoeven, lv, Alberts fon Buksthēvdens; c.1165 – 17 January 1229) was the third Bishop of Riga in Livonia. In 1201 he allegedly founded Riga, the modern capital of Latv ...

, whose remains were exhumed from one of the city's main churches and transferred to the cemetery in 1773.

Final burials 1939–1944

Burials at the cemetery were drastically reduced after

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

forced transfer Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

, under the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those powers to partition Poland between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ri ...

, of tens of thousands of Baltic Germans from Latvia in late 1939 to occupied areas in western

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Burials at the cemetery continued on a much smaller scale until 1944, principally among those Baltic Germans who had refused Hitler's call to leave the region.

Situation after 1944

Hundreds of headstones and

grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grav ...

s were removed or destroyed by the

authorities during the second occupation of the Baltic states. In 1957 the cemetery was closed completely for any further burials and began to fall into disrepair. In 1967 or 1969 the city council decided to

bulldoze A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large, motorized machine equipped with a metal blade to the front for pushing material: soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous track ...

large sections of the cemetery in order to transform it into a public memorial park. The

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

section of the cemetery, later named Pokrov Cemetery, is the only area which was not added to the territory of the Memorial Park and therefore was the only part to remain well preserved.

Current status

A significant number of Baltic German and Latvian graves and family plots, including a restored crypt built in 1777 and the graves of

Krišjānis Barons Krišjānis Barons (October 31, 1835 – March 8, 1923) was a Latvian writer who is known as the "father of the dainas" ( lv, "Dainu Tēvs") thanks largely to his systematization of the Latvian folk songs and his labour in preparing their te ...

and

Krišjānis Valdemārs Krišjānis Valdemārs (in Germanized spelling as Christian Waldemar or Woldemar) (2 December 1825 at Vecjunkuri in Ārlava parish (now Valdgale parish, Courland, Latvia) – 7 December 1891 in Moscow, Russia) was a writer, editor, educator, poli ...

, have survived the post-war destruction. However, many of these graves are in an abandoned or neglected condition. The city of Riga is currently discussing exchanging St Peter's Church for the Great Cemetery so that the city can properly take over maintenance.Rīgas dome cer mainīt Pēterbaznīcu pret Lielajiem kapiem
retrieved June 6, 2008.

Notable interments

, founder of the city (his remains were transferred here in 1773) * Christoph Haberland, one of Riga's chief

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s *

Johann Christoph Brotze Johann Christoph Brotze ( lv, Johans Kristofs Broce) (1 September 1742 – 4 August 1823) was a German pedagogue, artist and ethnographer. Biography Brotze was born in Görlitz, Electorate of Saxony. He studied theology and philosophy at the ...

, pedagogue and ethnographer *

, Latvian folklorist * Jānis Fridrihs Baumanis, Latvian architect *

Andrejs Pumpurs Andrejs Pumpurs ( on the left bank of the Daugava, in Lieljumprava civil parish, now Birzgale Parish – in Riga) was a poet who penned the Latvian epic Lāčplēsis (''The Bear Slayer'', first published in 1888) and a prominent figure in th ...

, Latvian poet and writer. * Johann Daniel Felsko, architect. *

Jāzeps Grosvalds Jazeps Grosvalds ( Latvian: Jāzeps Grosvalds) (24 April 1891 – 1 February 1920) was a Latvian painter from Riga. He is now regarded as one of Latvia's finest painters, bringing new ideas in Latvian art at the time, and has several works ...

, Latvian painter. * Kārlis Mīlenbahs, Latvian linguist and lexicographer. *

Wilhelm Ostwald Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald (; 4 April 1932) was a Baltic German chemist and philosopher. Ostwald is credited with being one of the founders of the field of physical chemistry, with Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Walther Nernst, and Svante Arrhen ...

, Baltic German chemist and Nobel laureate. * Heinrich Scheel, Baltic German architect. *

Georg August Schweinfurth Georg August Schweinfurth (29 December 1836 – 19 September 1925) was a Baltic German botanist and ethnologist who explored East Central Africa. Life and explorations He was born at Riga, Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire. He was edu ...

, Baltic German botanist, explorer and ethnologist. *

, leader of the Young Latvians movement. * George Armitstead,

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Riga from 1901 to 1912

References

Sources

History of the cemetery (in Latvian)

External links

Photos of memorial to German and Latvian pastors killed by communists in 1919 at sites-of-memory.de {{Riga Cityscape Baltic-German people Cemeteries in Riga Lutheran cemeteries 18th century in Latvia Monuments and memorials in Latvia Cemetery vandalism and desecration 1773 establishments in the Russian Empire