Baykova cemetery in Kiev, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2021
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytuty Polonika

Fotografia przedstawiająca Bajkowa cemetery

Gate of the Catholic part of the Baikal cemetery in Kyiv, photo Bartłomiej Gutowski, 2023
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytuty Polonika

Baykova cemetery in Kiev, photo Bartłomiej Gutowski, 2021
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytuty Polonika

Gate leading to the Catholic section of the Baikal cemetery in Kyiv, photo Bartłomiej Gutowski
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytuty Polonika

Baykova cemetery in Kiev, photo Norbert Piwowarczyk, 2021
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytuty Polonika

Baykova cemetery in Kiev, photo Norbert Piwowarcyk, 2921
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytuty Polonika

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ID: CM-000001-P

Bajkowa cemetery

Kyiv | Ukraine
ukr. Київ

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ID: CM-000001-P

Bajkowa cemetery

Kyiv | Ukraine
ukr. Київ

The Baykova cemetery is one of Kiev's 29 necropolises. It was established along the Lyabedz River, from which it is now separated by a railway line. It is located on the eastern slope of the Baikal Mountain. It is currently located in an urbanised area with low-rise, single-family housing to the south and west. It is bordered to the north by a medical complex and office buildings. The cemetery is divided into two parts (the old cemetery and the new cemetery), which are bisected by Bajkowa Street (after 1917 the street's name was changed to Szmidta, the original name was reverted to between 1941 and 1943, during the German era). On both sides of the road are Polish (Catholic) plots with a total of about 650 gravestones with inscriptions in Polish. Also located in the new cemetery is a complex of several dozen chapels (50°25'03.2 "N 30°30'29.2 "E) adjacent to the Polish quarters. Deep inside the cemetery is a section where Polish legionaries from 1920 were buried (section 47a, 50°25'01.0 "N 30°30'00.7 "E). Individual Polish graves can also be found in other parts of the cemetery. Nowadays, contemporary gravestones are mixed with historical ones, blurring the original division into Lutheran, Polish and Orthodox sections (there are also burials of other national and ethnic graves in the cemetery, but they do not form larger separate zones), although the overall layout of the graves remains clear. The layout of the necropolis is irregular, with a partly legible historical layout of alleys and a designated main, representative one in the new part of the cemetery, running from the gate. Only in some regions of the cemetery a regular or close to regular layout appears (e.g. in the area of the representative avenue, in the German part of the new cemetery). On the western side (in the new cemetery) there is a crematorium and a columbarium. The cemetery is heavily overgrown with both old trees and later self-sown trees. It is also overgrown with bushes in some places. In the cemetery there was a wooden Orthodox chapel, (after the church was built it was demolished), presumably a wooden cemetery chapel in the Catholic part of the old cemetery, not preserved. There was also a cemetery chapel in the Lutheran section. No further information is available on the Polish and Lutheran chapels. Following the information in the obituaries, it can be concluded that it was, but rather sporadically, used at least until 1915.

Variants of the name:

cmentarz Nowostrojewski, cmentarz Na Bajkowej Górze, Байкове кладовище, Байковий цвинтар

Time of origin:

1834

Area:

approx. 17 ha

The oldest gravestone for which documentation has been done:

Tombstone of Teodosia Kolankowska

History:

1832-1833 - Preparations for the opening of a new cemetery.
ca. 1834 - first burials in Novostroyevsky cemetery (original name Bajkowa cemetery).
1841 - the wooden St. Dmitri of Rostov Orthodox Church is consecrated.
1848 - a chapel was built in the Lutheran section and an unpreserved building was constructed for the use of cemetery staff.
1876 - the area on the other side of Bajkowa Street, known as the new cemetery, was incorporated into the cemetery. Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran sections were also separated here.
1884-1889 - a brick Church of the Ascension was built in the new Orthodox cemetery in Neo-Byzantine style, designed by Vladimir Nikolaev.
1880s - a red brick wall was erected to separate the cemetery from Bajkova Street.
1900 - Father Piotr Żmigrodzki, who administers the Catholic part of the cemetery, requested an additional 10 acres of land, for which he received permission in 1901.
1935 - a monument was erected in the quarters of Polish soldiers killed in the spring of 1920.
1971 - by a decision of the executive body of the Kyiv City Council, the Baykovo cemetery was closed to new burials.
1975 - a crematorium was completed next to the cemetery. Leading to it is the "Wall of Remembrance", along which artists Ada Rybachuk (1931-2010) and Vladimir Myelnichenko (born 1932) created a concrete wall of original monumental composition. Work on it lasted nearly 13 years, but was interrupted in 1981 and deemed incompatible with the spirit of socialism. Despite the fact that the approximately 230 m2 bas-relief was almost complete, it was decided in 1982 to pour concrete over it.
2001 - the Baikal cemetery was recognised as an outstanding monument of Ukrainian history.

Active/inactive cemetery:

Yes

Additional information:

An inventory of monuments was made for the cemetery (including all gravestones recognised as Polish, including those created after 1945), with a total of 1342 cards).

Comments on the state of preservation and visible restoration:

Ongoing cleaning work is being carried out at the cemetery by both Polish organisations and the cemetery management.

Bibliography:

Karta dokumentacyjna obiektu zabytkowego poza granicami kraju, zasób przechowywany w Ministerstwie Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego, Warszawa..
„Cmentarze polskie poza granicami kraju” , raport, oprac. B. Gutowski, Warszawa 2022 (maszynopis).
Zbigniew Hauser, „Podróże po cmentarzach Ukrainy”, t. I, „Dawna Małopolska Wschodnia. Województwo stanisławowskie", Warszawa 1998.

Date of documentation:

2021

Author of the documentation sheet:

Bartłomiej Gutowski

Development / approval of the documentation sheet:

Bartłomiej Gutowski

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