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ID: dok-000993-P/98326

Volozhin cemetery

ID: dok-000993-P/98326

Volozhin cemetery

Cemetery with Polish gravestone monuments. Information about the cemetery has been published (see bibliography).

According to Anna Lewkowska, Jacek Lewkowski and Wojciech Walczak, the active Catholic-Orthodox cemetery in Volozhin has a roughly rectangular plan and an area of 7.7 hectares. To quote: "On the culmination of the hill, at the eastern edge of the cemetery is a 19th century, now Orthodox, brick and plastered chapel built on a rectangular plan. The modern cemetery was created on the basis of a cemetery established in the 2nd half of the 19th century, by enlarging the area in the western and northern directions. The cemetery is dominated by modern Orthodox tombstones. The only surviving Catholic tombstones are five situated near the chapel. The oldest of these dates from 1862 and has the form of a low, flat iron cross with an inscription on its shoulders. It is the tombstone of Charles Houwalt (d. 1862). The other four gravestones date from the 1st half of the 20th century." The inscription from Karol Houwalt's gravestone: "KAROL HOUWALT / LIVED 32 YEARS / DIED 2 FEBRUARY 1862". The cemetery is maintained in good condition.

Lewkowski and Walczak also describe a disused Catholic cemetery in Volozhin. It has an illegible plan and an area of 0.6 hectares. The oldest gravestone has an illegible inscription written in Cyrillic, only the date "1840" is visible. There are many tombstones in the cemetery without inscriptions or illegible. It is worth recalling the inscription from the tombstone of Marcin Stankiewicz: "D. O. M. SHADOWS OF THE LATE J. W. X. / MARCIN STANKIEWICZ / AGED 87 / WHO DIED ON 10 JULY 1852. / AFFECTIONATE AND ATTACHED CHILDREN / DEDICATE THIS SAD MONUMENT / AND ASK PASSERS-BY FOR 3 / AN ANGELIC GREETING".

There is also a Jewish cemetery in the village. According to the aforementioned authors, it has a roughly rectangular plan and a 0.85 ha walled area. It was established in the 19th century. To quote: "Several hundred stones and matzevot have been preserved on its territory. What draws attention in the cemetery is the modern burial arrangement in the form of a large concrete platform with steps leading up to it, on which several cuboid concrete sarcophagi have been placed, behind them a rectangular stele with an inscription in Hebrew. Perhaps this is the restored burial place of the Rabbis and Tzaddikim of Volozhin. The cemetery also contains tombstone forms that are unusual for borderland cemeteries, such as a tombstone stylised as a tree trunk with truncated branches and an inscription plaque in the form of a papyrus scroll."

Bibliography:

  • „Cmentarze polskie poza granicami kraju” , raport, oprac. B. Gutowski, Warszawa 2022 (maszynopis).
  • Lewkowska Anna, Lewkowski Jacek, Walczak Wojciech, „Zabytkowe cmentarze na Kresach Wschodnich Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej. Województwo wileńskie na obszarze Republiki Białoruś”, Warszawa 2007.

Author:

Bartłomiej Gutowski, Dawid Mendrek
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