Information about the object:
The village of Sorok Tatary (Keturiasdešimt Totorių) near Vilnius is considered to be one of the first Tatar settlements in Lithuania. Its origins are linked to the arrival of Prince Vytautas in 1397. Vytautas in 1397 by Tatar settlers from the Don and Volga rivers (mentioned by Jan Długosz). This is considered to be the beginning of Tatar settlement in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Initially, the village was called Kyrk or Kyrklar (tat.: forty, forty) and was traditionally military in character. In 1683, almost all the men were under arms, participating in the Vienna Expedition. Military service was also earned throughout the 18th century. A reminder of this were the spars of the pre-1794 riding banner kept in the mosque until 2005.

After 1918. Sorok Tatary found itself within the borders of Poland (Vilnius-Trotsky district) and became the seat of a Muslim parish. Then, after 1945, the village found itself within the borders of the USSR. Today, the village belongs to the territory of Lithuania.

In Sorok Tatary there is the oldest preserved mosque in Lithuania (renovated in 1993 by the Polish PKZ) and four historical cemeteries.

In the largest Tatar necropolis in the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Velika Zireć), with an area of more than 4 ha, overgrown with forest, whose origins should be linked to the establishment of the village, a set of the earliest Tatar inscriptions dating back to the 17th century was discovered. Work was also carried out on two smaller cemeteries, each with an area of approximately 0.5 ha: Drozdowska Zireć (with the oldest dated inscription from 1626) and Stara Zireć. In all these necropolises, the graves are of traditional form (with fieldstones, without workshop tombstones)

Completed works:
As part of the project implementation, the areas of the cemeteries were partially cleared of bushes and weeds. The state of preservation of the graves and tombstones in need of conservation was inventoried and recognised, and a preliminary geophysical survey was carried out to determine the layout and extent of the graves.

Funding: Programme of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage "Protection of cultural heritage abroad"

More about the project: https://polonika.pl

• Fundacja Promocji Sztuk, realizacja w roku 2020.