The Nikolai Cemetery, most likely established in the 12th century and first mentioned in 1310, is the oldest cemetery in

Görlitz Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. After the opening of the nearby municipal cemetery in 1847, the cemetery ceased to be active and subsequent burials were only carried out in exceptional circumstances. Despite not having regular burial services any longer, the 850 gravestones and 17 mausoleums inside the cemetery all remain in good condition, some of which date back to the 17th century.

History

Originally, the cemetery surrounded the previous building of the late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

Nicolai church. The cemetery extended to the north-side of the church during the mid-age, and between 1559 and 1624 the cemetery slowly expanded to the west side of the church. In 1633, victims of the Plague were buried there in mass graves. To this day there are markings on the meadow where the bodies were buried. In 1820 the wall on the south side of the graveyard was demolished and the area has been developed into a forecourt of the church. Since 1847 burials are carried out in the adjoining municipal cemetery.

Tombs and Epitaphs

There are about 850 tombs and epitaphs remaining on the Nikolai Cemetery, most of which date back to between the 17th and mid-19th century. There were only a few tombs or commemorative tablets erected after 1847 – mostly inside existing mausoleums. The style of each tomb varies depending on the time they were erected, and many styles can be seen including

Mannerism Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

and

Classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...

. Later headstones also show styles of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

and

Historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

. The tombs before the 19th century were cut from

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

n sandstone. Starting in the 1800s, the softer

Elbe Sandstone Elbe Sandstone () describes sandstones that naturally occur in North Bohemia and those parts of Saxony within the area around Dresden. It is named after the River Elbe, which cuts through the sandstone region in a transverse valley, the ''Elbe ...

and cast iron were used – a combination of materials that are common components of

industrial production Industrial production is a measure of output of the industrial sector of the economy. The industrial sector includes manufacturing, mining, and utilities. Although these sectors contribute only a small portion of gross domestic product (GDP), they ...

. Tombs erected in the 17th and 18th century show numerous

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and biographical inscriptions and are surrounded by different deteriorating sculptures. Christian theological virtues like hope, love and faith are represented. Many stones resemble Christian

Emblem An emblem is an abstract art, abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and ''symbol'' ...

s. There are only a few tombs dating back to the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

, because at that time the Nicolai cemetery was quite small for a population of about 8,000 people. Lots of gravesites had to be reused over and over. During the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...

from 1429 to 1432 gravestones were used to reinforce walls in the town for protection measures, which is the reason why there are no gravestones left from

medieval times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

. The

-historian Richard Jecht assumes one could find the stones deep below the ''Hothergasse'', were they used. Nikolaikirchhof westlicher Teil.jpg, View from the north-side to the west-side Östlicher Bereich.jpg, Eastern part of the cemetery UDB 03-32 Abb 01.jpg, Gravestone from the late 17th century Nikolaikirchhof barocke Grabmale 01.jpg, Tomb from the early 18th century UDB 02-69 Abb 04.jpg, Tomb from 1815 Gusseisengrabmal.jpg, Tomb of cast iron Grabmaldetail.jpg, Detail of a gravestone of the early 19th century

Mausoleums

Only 17 of the original 21 mausoleums still exist, with the oldest dating back to 1618 and the bulk of the later structures built during the early 1700s. After a town fire in 1717 damaged the cemetery, some had to be repaired or reconstructed. Many of the mausoleums feature large altar-like decorations inside the buildings, as well as signs of previous decorations like draperies and portraits of the dead that are housed inside. Mausoleums were only constructed by the richest inhabitants of

, and the structures served as a way to show off their wealth after death, much like how Egyptian pharaohs were buried in pyramids. Nikolaikirchhof Grufthaus Zobel.jpg, Mausoleum Zobel Grufthaus Gobius.jpg, Mausoleum Gobius Nikolaikirchhof, nördliche Grufthausreihe.jpg, Row of mausoleums Fröhlichgruft Alter Friedhof Görlitz.JPG, Mausoleum Fröhlich Mollerlinde Gehlergruft (re) Jakobigruft (li) Alter Friedhof Görlitz.JPG, Mausoleum of Jakobi (left) and Gehler (right) Görlitz-Nikolaikirchhof-6.JPG, Mausoleum Möller (left) and Tobias (right) Nikolaikirche Görlitz Nordseite Emmerichgruft.JPG, Mausoleum Emmerich

Prominent People

* Georg Emmerich (*1422 in

Kłodzko Kłodzko (; ; ; ) is a historic town in south-western Poland, in the region of Lower Silesia. It is situated in the centre of the Kłodzko Valley, on the Eastern Neisse (Nysa Kłodzka) river. Kłodzko is the seat of Kłodzko County (and of the ru ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

; † 1507 in Görlitz); merchant and mayor of Görlitz *

Jakob Böhme Jakob Böhme (; ; 24 April 1575 – 17 November 1624) was a German philosopher, Christian mysticism, Christian mystic, and Lutheran Protestant Theology, theologian. He was considered an original thinker by many of his contemporaries within the L ...

(* 1575 in

Stary Zawidów Stary Zawidów (; ) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Sulików, within Zgorzelec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, close to the Czech border. It lies approximately south of Sulików, south of Zgorzel ...

; † 1624 in Görlitz); German philosopher, Christian mystic and theologian * Johannes Maximilian Avenarius (* 1887 in Greiffenberg; † 1954 in Berlin-Müggelheim);

expressionistic Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...

artist and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

* Gregor Gobius (* 1588 in Glogau; † 1658 in

), mayor of

and

alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

* Christian August Struve (1767–1807); doctor, pharmacist and poetWerner Gottwald: ''Zur Lebensleistung und Persönlichkeit des Görlitzer Arztes Christian August Struve (1767–1807).'' In: ''Würzburger medizinhistorische Mitteilungen.'' Band 18, 1999, S. 305–334; especially S. 308 f. Avenarius Grab Alter Friedhof Görlitz.JPG, Tomb Johannes M. Avenarius Grabmal Böhme.jpg, Tomb Jakob Böhme Photo-request.svg, Bildwunsch: Grabstein Gobius im Inneren seines Grufthauses Grabmal Christian August Struve.jpg, Tomb Christian August Struve

Literature

* Thomas R. Elßner: ''Wofür steht die Christognosia auf dem Görlitzer Nikolaifriedhof? Ein Deutungsangebot'', in: Görlitzer Magazin Nr. 21 (2008), 43–53. * Günther Grundmann: ''Die peripherischen Friedhofskapellen des Achtzehnten Jahrhunderts in Schlesien.'' Straßburg 1916. * Dietmar Ridder: ''Der Pestplan auf dem Görlitzer Nikolaifriedhof, in: Denkmalpflege in Görlitz.'' Eine Schriftenreihe Heft 16, Görlitz, Zittau 2007, 29–35. * Dietmar Ridder: ''ein begrebnis solt ja billich ein feiner stiller ort sein. Der Nikolaifriedhof – Denkmal Görlitzer Sepulkralkultur von der Renaissancezeit bis zum 19. Jahrhundert.'' In: ''Denkmalpflege in Görlitz.'' Eine Schriftenreihe, Heft 14, Görlitz, Zittau 2005, 22–42. * Ulrich Rosner: ''Oberlausitzer Grufthäuser des Barock. Ein Beitrag zur Sepulkralkunst des 18. Jahrhunderts.'' In: ''Denkmalpflege in Sachsen.'' Mitteilungen des Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege Sachsen. Jahrbuch 2006, Dresden 2007, 24–55. * Artur Walter: ''Steine reden. Inschriften der alten Grabsteine und Epitaphien auf dem Nikolaifriedhof, in der Nikolaikirche, an der Frauenkirche, in der Dreifaltigkeitskirche und in der Kirche zu S. S. Peter u. Paul in Görlitz.'' Manuskript, 1959, OLB IX 310, Bde. 1–7. * Horst Wenzel, Siegfried Hirche, Siegfried Kaden: ''St. Nikolai zu Görlitz. Gotteshaus und Kirchhof.'' Görlitz 1999/2000.

References

{{Commons category, Nikolaikirchhof Görlitz Görlitz Buildings and structures in Görlitz Cemeteries in Germany Lutheran cemeteries in Germany