Lychakiv Cemetery ( uk, Личаківський цвинтар, translit=Lychakivs’kyi tsvyntar; pl, Cmentarz Łyczakowski we Lwowie), officially State History and Culture Museum-Preserve "Lychakiv Cemetery" ( uk, Державний історико-культурний музей-заповідник «Лича́ківський цви́нтар»), is a historic cemetery in
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
, Ukraine.
History
Since its creation in 1787 as Łyczakowski Cemetery, it has been the main necropolis of the city's
intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
,
middle and
upper classes. Initially the cemetery was located on several hills in the borough of Lychakiv, following the imperial
Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
edict ordering that all cemeteries be moved outside of the city limits. The original project was prepared by , the head of the
Lviv University botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
.
In mid-1850s the cemetery was expanded significantly by Tytus Tchórzewski, who created the present network of alleys and round-abouts. It then became the main city cemetery, and soon most other cemeteries were closed. The two largest that remained were the Yanivskiy Cemetery ( pl, cmentarz Janowski), with many working class graves and the adjacent New
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
Cemetery. Lychakivskiy Cemetery was used by all Christian sects in the city: in addition to
Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, it also included
Eastern Rite Catholics
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of th ...
,
Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
and
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...
.
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the city was annexed by the
Soviet Union
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 national ...
to the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
and the majority of the surviving pre-war inhabitants of the city were expelled to the
former German areas awarded to Poland after the Yalta Conference. This started a period of devastation of historical monuments located at the cemetery. Up to 1971 many of the sculptures were destroyed. However, in 1975 the cemetery was declared a historical monument and the degradation ended. Since the
late 1980s, the cemetery has seen constant rebuilding and refurbishment and continues to be one of the principal tourist attractions of
Lwów
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
.
In late 2006 the city administration announced plans to transfer the tombs of
Stepan Bandera,
Yevhen Konovalets,
Andriy Melnyk and other key leaders of
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) /
Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) to a new area of the cemetery dedicated to the Ukrainian national liberation struggle.
Cemetery sections
Ukrainian National Army Memorial
The Ukrainian National Army Memorial (Number 8 on the plan) is devoted to the
Ukrainian National Army soldiers buried in the cemetery, including soldiers of the
SS Division "Galicia". It was established due to the efforts of Ukrainian national-patriotic organizations and the Ukrainian emigrant veterans' movement. It was established with the special effort of , a division veteran, Ukrainian emigrant veterans' movement social activist and
Plast
The Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine ( uk, Пласт Національна Скаутська Організація України, ''Plast Natsionalna Skautska Orhanizatsiia Ukrayiny''), commonly called Ukrainian Plast or simply P ...
(National Scout Organization of Ukraine) veteran who took an active part in the creation of memorials to the SS Division Galicia on the mountain and near the village of .
''Дяків М.'' Відійшов на Вічну Ватру пластун сеньйор керівництва Юрій Ференцевич з куреня «Ватага Бурлаків» // «Пластовий портал» (www.plast.org.ua) 15.02.2011.
Field of Mars
On the north side of the Cemetery is situated ''Field of Mars'' (No. 1 on the plan), a war memorial built in 1974. This war memorial contains the graves of 3,800 Soviet soldiers who died in the battles against the Nazi occupiers during the Great Patriotic War
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...
and against units of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) (acting up to the mid-1950s). On the wall of the memorial was written a verses: Poetic writing in honor of the Soviet soldiers was eliminated at the direction of urban authorities in 1990s.[Lemko I..'' Pogulyanka with Outskirts // «Lviv newspaper» – 13 Lipnya 2007.](_blank)
/ref>
Lwów Defenders' Cemetery
The ''Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów (Cemetery of Eaglets, pl, Cmentarz Orląt Lwowskich)'' is a memorial and a burial place for the Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...
and their allies who died in Lviv during the hostilities of the Polish-Ukrainian War (1918−1919) and Polish-Soviet War (1919−1921).
The complex is a part of the city's historic Lychakiv Cemetery. There are about 3000 graves in that part of the cemetery; some from the Lwów Eaglets
Lwów Eaglets ( pl, Orlęta lwowskie) is a term of affection that is applied to the Polish people, Polish Children in the military, child soldiers who defended the city of Lwów ( uk, L'viv), in Galicia (Eastern Europe), Eastern Galicia, during th ...
young militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
volunteers, after whom that part of the cemetery is named. It was one of the most famous necropolis
A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead".
The term usually im ...
es of the interwar Poland.
In 1925, the ashes of one of the unknown defenders of Lwów were transferred to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier ( pl, Grób Nieznanego Żołnierza) is a monument in Warsaw, Poland, dedicated to the unknown soldiers who have given their lives for Poland. It is one of many such national Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, tombs of u ...
. After that was built the «Polish mausoleum» (Lwów Eaglets Memorial).
After World War II the cemetery of Lwów Eaglets was completely destroyed and turned into a truck depot and at one time Eaglets Cemetery was damaged with a bulldozer.[Symbolic Reconciliation](_blank)
20 July 2005, Warsaw Voice
''Warsaw Voice: Polish and Central European Review'' (shortly ''The Warsaw Voice'') is an English-language newspaper printed in Poland, concentrating on news about Poland and its neighbours. First released in October 1988, it is a general news ma ...
. Last accessed on 22 March 2006.
Due to the history of complex Polish-Ukrainian relations, the Polish Eaglets Cemetery was neglected because the Ukrainian authorities did not want to rebuild this monument of young Polish soldiers defending the city in 1920s. Though in the late 1980s, workers of a Polish company which were working in Khmelnytskyi started to redecorate and rebuild the necropolis from its ruins (which was not always legal according to Ukrainian law). Although the Ukrainian authorities tried to stop the works several times, the Poles managed to renovate this important memorial of great Lvovians.
Since 1999 there is also a monument to the Sich Riflemen
The Sich Riflemen Halych-Bukovyna Kurin ( uk, Січові Cтрільці з Галичини та Буковини) were one of the first regular military units of the Ukrainian People's Army. The unit operated from 1917 to 1919 and was for ...
located just outside the Polish mausoleum.
Since the fall of communism, the cemetery had been rebuilt and refurbished. It was finally reopened on 24 June 2005.
1863 January rebels' hill
In the back part of the cemetery (No. 6 on the plan) on a separate field indicated original steel crosses, located «1863 rebels' hill». Buried here are members Polish January Uprising of 1863, of which a member of the Polish Central National Committee
Central National Committee (Polish: ''Komitet Centralny Narodowy (KCN)'') was the underground coordinating committee of the Polish independence movement in 1860s Congress Poland which was responsible for preparing a general uprising against Tsaris ...
Bronisław Szwarce
Bronisław Antoni Szwarce (October 7, 1834 The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979)–February 18, 1904) was a Polish engineer and political activist. Born in France to Polish immigrants and educated there. He graduated from the ...
, the famous zoologist Benedykt Dybowski, cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
Vitebsk land, resting under the central monument rebels , etc.
Other veterans' sections
There are also numerous parts of the cemetery in which veterans of most wars of 19th and 20th centuries are buried, including the quarters of veterans of:
* November Uprising
The November Uprising (1830–31), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution,
was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in W ...
(1830−1831)
* World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
* Polish Defensive War
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after ...
(1939)
* Victims of the NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
(1941)
*World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
Notable people
Poles
Since the city for centuries used to be a centre of Polish culture, there are numerous famous Poles buried there. Among them are:
* Roman Abraham
Roman Józef Abraham (28 February 1891, Lwów – 26 August 1976, Warsaw) was a Polish cavalry general, commander of the Wielkopolska Cavalry Brigade during the German and Soviet Invasion of Poland in September 1939, and Battle of Bzura comman ...
, general
* Stefan Banach, mathematician
* Wladyslaw Belza, writer
* Piotr Chmielowski
Piotr Chmielowski (9 February 1848 in Zawadyn'ci, Volhynia – 22 April 1904 in Lwów) was a Polish philosopher, literary historian and critic.
Life
After studying at Warsaw's Main School in Russian Poland and at Leipzig University (to 1874 ...
, philosopher
* Benedykt Dybowski, soldier, adventurer, ethnologist and biologist
* Mieczysław Garsztka
Mieczysław Sylwester Garsztka (31 December 1896 - 10 June 1919) was a Polish pilot and a flying ace of the German air force during World War I and later the Polish air force during the Polish-Ukrainian War.
World War I German service
He was b ...
, aviator
* Mieczysław Gębarowicz
Mieczysław Jan Gębarowicz (17 December 1893 – 18 February 1984) was a Polish art historian, soldier, dissident, museum director and custodian of cultural heritage.
Early years
Gębarowicz was born in Jarosław, one of three sons in a patriot ...
, historian
* Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski
Count Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski (19 May 1866 – 18 October 1928) was a Polish military commander, diplomat, and politician, a general of the Austro-Hungarian Army and then the Polish Army.
Biography
Youth
Jordan-Rozwadowski was born in ...
, Polish military leader and one of the founders of modern Poland
* Franciszek Ksawery Godebski
Franciszek Ksawery Godebski (1801 – 17 May 1869) was a Polish writer and journalist.
He was born in Frankenthal. Cyprian Godebski was his father, and Dobrogost his pseudonym.
Franciszek was from 1822-1823 editor of several literature magazine ...
, historian
* Zygmunt Gorgolewski
Zygmunt Gorgolewski (14 February 1845 in Solec – 6 July 1903 in Lviv) was a Polish architect, renowned for his construction of the Grand Theatre in Lviv. Jakub Lewiński. ''Między tradycją, a nowoczesnością; Architektura Lwowa lat ...
, architect, designer of the Lviv Opera
The Solomiya Krushelnytska Lviv State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet ( uk, Львівський Національний академічний театр опери та балету імені Соломії Крушельницької ...
* Seweryn Goszczyński
Seweryn Goszczyński (4 November 1801, Illintsi - 25 February 1876, Lviv) was a Polish Romantic prose writer and poet.
Life
He was born on 4 November 1801 in Ilińce, Russian Empire and hailed from a Polish noble family of the Pobóg coat of ...
, poet
* Artur Grottger
Artur Grottger (11 November 1837 – 13 December 1867) was a Polish Romantic painter and graphic artist, one of the most prominent artists of the mid 19th century under the foreign partitions of Poland, despite a life cut short by incurable ill ...
, artist
* , founder of the first theatre in Lwów
* Wojciech Kętrzyński, historian and name-sake of the city of Kętrzyn
* Maria Konopnicka
Maria Konopnicka (; ; 23 May 1842 – 8 October 1910) was a Polish poet, novelist, children's writer, translator, journalist, critic, and activist for women's rights and for Polish independence. She used pseudonyms, including ''Jan Sawa''. She ...
, writer
* Juliusz Konstanty Ordon, officer
* Ludwik Rydygier, surgeon
* Władysław Sadłowski
Władysław Sadłowski (June 25, 1869 in Lviv – May 25, 1920 in Lviv) was a renowned Polish people, Polish architect, a representative of Historicism (art), historicism and Art Nouveau and a graduate of the Lwów Technical Academy.
Life
He w ...
, architect
* Kazimierz Sichulski, painter
* Karol Szajnocha
Karol Szajnocha (1818–1868) was a Polish writer, historian, and independence activist. Self-taught, he would nonetheless become a notable Polish historian of the partitions period.
Biography
Karol Szajnocha was born as on 20 November 1818 in K ...
, historian
* Julian Zachariewicz
Julian may refer to:
People
* Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363
* Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots
* Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints
* Julian (give ...
, architect
* Gabriela Zapolska
Maria Gabriela Stefania Korwin-Piotrowska (1857–1921), known as Gabriela Zapolska, was a Polish novelist, playwright, naturalist writer, feuilletonist, theatre critic and stage actress. Zapolska wrote 41 plays, 23 novels, 177 short stories, 25 ...
, novelist and playwright
Ukrainians
Among the notable Ukrainians buried there are:
* Oleksander Barvinsky, academician, politician.
* Vasyl Barvinsky
Vasyl Oleksandrovych Barvinsky ( uk, Василь Олександрович Барвінський) (20 February 1888 – 9 June 1963) was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, musicologist, and music related social figure.
Barvinsk ...
, impressionist composer
* Yevheniya Barvinska, pianist, choral conductor, singer
* Roman Bezpalkiv
Roman Bezpalkiv ( uk, Рома́н Безпа́лків) – (15 April 1938, village Hlushyn, Lviv region (Lviv Oblast) – 19 November 2009, Lviv) – was a Ukrainian painter. Genre – painting, sacral art. Member of the Natio ...
, Ukrainian painter
* Ivan Franko, poet and reformer of the Ukrainian language
Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state langu ...
* Yaroslav Halan, playwright and publicist
* Jacques Hnizdovsky
Jacques Hnizdovsky ( uk, Яків Гніздовський,
pl, Jakub Gniazdowski, hr, Jakiv Hnizdovskij), (1915–1985) was a Ukrainian-American painter, printmaker, graphic
designer, illustrator and sculptor.
Biography
Jacques Hnizdovs ...
, painter, printmaker, sculptor, bookplate designer and illustrator of numerous books, both in Ukrainian and English
* Volodymyr Ivasyuk, composer
* , theologian
* Solomiya Krushelnytska
Solomiya Amvrosiivna KrushelnytskaHer name is sometimes spelt as Solomiya Ambrosiyivna Krushelnytska, Salomea Krusceniski, Krushel'nytska or Kruszelnicka. ( uk, Соломія Амвро́сіївна Крушельницька, links=no; Septem ...
, soprano opera star
*Lesya Kryvytska
Lesya Kryvytska, née Oleksandra Serhiivna Yelyseyeva (; 16 January 1899 – 7 November 1983) was a Soviet and Ukrainian stage actress and pedagogue. People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1954).
Early life and education
Oleksandra Kryvytska wa ...
, actress
* Stanyslav Lyudkevych, composer
* Oleksander Ohonovsky
Oleksander Ohonovsky ( uk, Огоновський Олександр Михайлович; March 17, 1848 – February 10, 1891) was a lawyer, legal scholar, and civic leader in Austria-Hungary.
Oleksander Ohonovsky was born in Bukachivtsi, Roha ...
, lawyer, civic leader
* Anthony Petrushevych
Anthony Petrushevych ( uk, Петруше́вич Анто́ній Степа́нович; January 18, 1821 – September 23, 1913) was a Ukrainian historian, linguist, researcher of the history of Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia, a priest ...
, historian and philologist.
* Markiyan Shashkevych
Markiyan Shashkevych (November 6, 1811 in Pidlyssia, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria – June 7, 1843 in Novosilky, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria) was a priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, a poet, a translator, and the leader of th ...
, poet
* Yurii Shukhevych, political prisoner and politician
* Oleksandr Tysowskyj (alternately Alexander Tysovsky), founder of Ukrainian Scouting
* Anatole Vakhnianyn, composer and leading cultural figure
* Iryna Vilde (Polotniuk)
Daryna Dmytrivna Polotniuk (name at birth, née Makohon; uk, Дарина Дмитрівна Полотнюк (Макогон); 5 May 1907 – 30 October 1982), better known by her pen name Iryna Vilde ( uk, Ірина Вільде), was a Ukrai ...
, Ukrainian writer
* , hero of Ukraine, academician, director of the Lviv National Gallery
Others
* Edmund Pike Graves, pilot and member of the Kościuszko Squadron
Gallery
File:Lwów - główna brama Cmentarza Łyczakowskiego około 1900 r.jpg, Lychakiv Cemetery – main gate (c.a. 1900)
File:Lwów - Cmentarz Łyczakowski 02.JPG, Mausoleum of Kiselka family by
File:Lychakiv Cemetery (2018).jpg, Lychakiv Cemetery (2018)
References
External links
Detailed history of the Cemetery
Pictures of the Cemetery. 288 photo. V.Yashchuk
(captions in Polish)
* Lychakivskiy Cemetery o
city plan: F-9
Inter-wa
cemetery list, p. 23
''Plan Lwowa,'' W. Horbay, 1938 (in Polish; reprinted Wrocław
Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...
, 1986).
Review of Cemetery as tourist attraction
Lychakivskiy Cemetery
at Find a Grave
Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...
{{Authority control
Cemeteries in Lviv
Polish culture
Tourist attractions in Lviv
1787 establishments in the Habsburg Monarchy
Poland–Ukraine relations