Rasos Cemetery
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Rasos Cemetery (Lithuanian: , Polish: ) is an old cemetery in city of Vilnius, Lithuania.
History
Founded in 1769 by Bazyli Miller, the mayor of Vilnius, in the place of an ancient pagan temple. He was also the first person to be buried there. It received the name after the surrounding borough of Rasos. In 1801 a chapel and a belltower were built. After 1844 the cemetery received a new, neo-gothic shrine. It was built by Józef Bohdanowicz, a local priest, and Jan Waszkiewicz, professor at Vilnius University. In 1920 a small military cemetery was built near the entrance for the soldiers who died in the city during the Polish-Bolshevik War. It was rebuilt in 1935-1936 by Wojciech Jastrzębowski, who also made a project of Piłsudski's heart's tombstone.
Until September 18, 1939, when the Red Army entered the city, a honorary guard of three soldiers stood there at all times. Three unknown soldiers who refused to give up their arms to the Soviets in 1939 were shot on the spot and are now buried next to Marshal Piłsudski's heart. Part of the cemetery contains graves of Polish Home Army soldiers, who fell during the Second World War. Their graves, demolished after World War II, were rebuilt by the Polish state in 1993.
After the war the cemetery's name reverted to its original Lithuanian name of Rasų cemetery, also spelt as Rasos cemetery. The whole necropoly was to be destroyed in the 1980s as the Soviet authorities planned a major motorway to be built directly through the cemetery. Fortunately, a press campaign led by Polish-language "Czerwony Sztandar" (Red Banner) newspaper and economical difficulties halted the destruction.
Notable people
There are many famous Poles, Lithuanians, and Belarussians buried there. Among them are:
- Joachim Lelewel, historian, professor at Vilnius University
- Władysław Syrokomla, writer
- Count Eustachy Tyszkiewicz (1814-1873), historian, archaeologist
- Czesław Jankowski (1857-1929), poet
- Euzebiusz Słowacki, father of Polish poet Juliusz Słowacki
- Janina Burchardówna (1883-1924), journalist, teacher and freedom-fighter
- Wacław Dziewulski (1882-1938), physician, professor at Vilnius University
- Antonina Fiszer (1824-1840), actress
- Laurynas Gucevičius (1753 - 1798), architect[() Juozas Lebionka. Laurynas Gucevičius palaidotas Rasos (Laurynas Gucevičius is burried in Rasos). Voruta, No. 20 (542), 23 October 2003]
- Jan O'Connor (1760-1802), medic, professor at Vilnius University
- Adam Piłsudski (1869-1935), a long-time president of Vilnius
- Władysław Horodyjski (d. 1920), philosopher, professor at Vilnius University
- Franciszek Smuglewicz (1745-1807), painter, professor at Vilnius University
- Józef Montwiłł, humanist and sponsor of countless hospitals, orphanages and museums
- Adam Jocher (1791-1860), founder of the first public library in Vilnius
- Juliusz Kłos (1881-1933), architect, author of the guidebook to Vilnius.
- Józef Łukaszewicz (1863-1928), professor at Vilnius University, revolutionist and long-time prisoner of czarist prison in Shlisselburg
- The heart of Józef Piłsudski (1867-1935), Polish statesman. In addition to his heart, the bodies of his mother and two of his brothers are buried at Rasos cemetery.
- Maria Piłsudska (1865-1921), first wife of Józef Piłsudski
- Antoni Wiwulski (1877-1919), architect and sculptor
- Bronisław Wróblewski (1888-1941), lawyer
- Jędrzej Śniadecki, (1768-1838), writer, medic, chemist and biologist
- Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, painter and composer
- Andriey Levicki, writer
- Jonas Basanavičius, doctor, scientist, patriot, activist, signer of the Lithuanian Declaration of Independence
- Kazys Boruta, writer
- Petras Cvirka, writer
- Povilas Višinskis, book spreader, writer
- Antanas Vileišis, doctor, activist
References
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