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ID: dok-000491-P/81376

Rudki municipal cemetery

ID: dok-000491-P/81376

Rudki municipal cemetery

Situated in the southern part of the town, the cemetery was probably established at the end of the first half of the 19th century, which can be deduced from the dates on the preserved tombstones. The oldest gravestone with an inscription in Polish is a stone obelisk topped with a ball belongs to Marcin Madeyski (died 1842).

This cemetery is still active and thus maintained to a good degree. However, in the old part some of the gravestones are unnamed or broken. The former spatial layout is partially preserved.

Hauser narrates the tombstones by arranging them one by one in the necropolis space. To the right of the main alley, behind the gate, is the Kohler tomb. Opposite it is the tomb of the Balkowski family, with a cast-iron cross. Behind it is visible the neo-Gothic tombstone of Antoni Pastuch (d. 1935) topped with a stone Crucifixion group. Still further down lies a gravestone with a monument topped by a cross on the grave of Jan Szczepankiewicz (d. 1909).

Above the overgrowth an obelisk of black marble is visible on the grave of Stanislaw of Dembowa Gora Jelit Dembowski (d. 1902). On the other side of the alley is a broken obelisk on the grave of Laurentius Werner (d. 1915), with a German inscription. On the same side, but a little further on, is a magnificent stone monument topped with a cross and drapery on the grave of Wladyslaw Olszanski (d. 1910), and just behind it is a modest neo-Gothic monument without a cross on the graves of Franciszek Nowina (d. 1913) and Tekla of Gajewska (d. 1914) Ujejski.

At the very end of the same avenue, on the boundary of the new municipal cemetery, a tall, broken column, decorated with a relief eagle and without inscription, stands on a headstone. Hauser suspects that it may be the Polish Independence Monument.

The author also mentions a gravestone topped with a stone Crucifixion group, in folk style, on the grave of Łucja Kuryło and a simple gravestone with a stone cross on the grave of Leonard Nowin Jezierski (d. 1920).

In the parish church there is a side chapel serving as a tomb for the Fredro family. A wrought iron grille with the monogram 'IHS' leads into it.

Inside are ten epitaphs of members of the family, executed in white, red or black marble. The most impressive of these is the tomb monument of the famous Polish comedy writer Aleksander Fredro (d. 1876) and the epitaph of his parents, Jacek (d. 1828) and Mary, née Dembińska (d. 1806) Fredro, opposite him. The inscription of the former is very rich, listing Aleksander Fredro's titles - 'Former captain of the general staff of the Polish and French armies / Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph / Polish Cross of Virtuti Militari / Legion of Honour and Medal of St Helena / Former deputy of the Department of States and member of the National Sejm / Member of the former Warsaw Society of Friends of Science / Academy of Skills in Cracow / Parisian Historical and Literary Society / Honorary Citizen of the City of Lwów, etc.'. /".

Beneath the chapel is a crypt with the sarcophagi of the Fredro family restored after the post-war destruction.

Documentation (156 sheets) and photographic documentation (stored in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage) were produced for the cemetery. Information about the cemetery published (see bibliography).

Related persons:

Bibliography:

  • „Cmentarze polskie poza granicami kraju” , raport, oprac. B. Gutowski, Warszawa 2022 (maszynopis).
  • Hauser Zbigniew, „Podróże po cmentarzach Ukrainy”, t. III, „Dawna Małopolska Wschodnia. Województwo lwowskie (część wschodnia)", Kraków 2007, s. 197, 198, 200, 201.

Author:

Bartłomiej Gutowski
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