photo Natalia Szestakowa, 2014
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ID: dok-000263-P/76961

Zdolbunov Cemetery

ID: dok-000263-P/76961

Zdolbunov Cemetery

The municipal cemetery in Zdolbunov, where Zbigniew Hauser found dozens of tombstones with Polish inscriptions, lies near the Evangelical church in the north-western part of the town. It is an active cemetery, currently also designated for Orthodox Christians. Its area of approximately 2 hectares is partly surrounded by a brick wall built between the wars. The vast majority of tombstones also date from this period. The oldest is a gravestone with an inscription from 1910.

In the cemetery there is a brick chapel - the tomb of the Wyhovski family - decorated only with a cornice and flat pilasters, with narrow arched windows. Nearby are two characteristic, impressive tombstones with a knotted tree and a knotted cross. In the cemetery one can find both tombstones of an elaborate form, such as the mausoleum of the Czerniawski family, the tomb of the Zawadzki family, as well as tombstones and simple tombstones with an iron cross. There are relatively many photographs preserved on the gravestone monuments. Unfortunately, some of the tombstones are devoid of iron crosses, which is the result of illegal scrap metal mining http://www.gorawino.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=280&Itemid=1 .

Soldiers of the Polish Army who died in the defence of Zdolbunov in battles against the Bolsheviks were buried in the cemetery - four known by name and 16 unnamed. Their grave is covered by a tombstone with an inscription, behind which stands a monument in the shape of a vertical slab topped with an iron cross, with diagonal stepped sides and buttresses at the front, with an opening in the form of a cross. At the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century the monument was renovated and completed with a band with plinths. http://www.gorawino.net/index.php?option=com_ponygallery&Itemid=93&func=detail&id=664#ponyimg ; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zdolbuniv_Brats%27ka_Mogyla_Voyiniv_Pol%27s%27koyi_Armiyi_04_Vos%27mogo_Bereznya_vul._gromads%27ke_kladovysche_( YDS_7606).JPG

On a daily basis, the cemetery is cared for by the remaining Poles in Zdolbunov https://historianamapie.org/item/cmentarz-w-zdolbunowie-3/ .

Bibliography:

  • „Cmentarze polskie poza granicami kraju” , raport, oprac. B. Gutowski, Warszawa 2022 (maszynopis).
  • Hauser Zbigniew, „Podróże po cmentarzach Ukrainy”, t. IV, „Województwa: wołyńskie, podolskie, bracławskie i kijowskie”, Kraków 2009, s. 165-170.

Author:

Bartłomiej Gutowski, Alicja Czuber-Filonik
see more Text translated automatically
Photo showing Zdolbunov Cemetery
photo Natalia Szestakowa, 2014

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