Information about the object:
Tokarzewski's gravestone in a disused multi-religious cemetery in the old part of Jahorlik (Transnistrian Moldovan Republic). The cemetery is located a few kilometres from the current newly established settlement of Jahorlik. It is located at the mouth of the Jahorlik River to the Dniester, at the very end of the territory of the former Republic bordering Turkey. Formerly, in the 16th-17th centuries, the village was known as a place where judges came together to settle border disputes. In the 19th century, a small town inhabited by Jews, Ukrainians, Poles and Armenians, among others. Completely destroyed after World War II, only the multi-faith cemetery and the Jewish cemetery survived. The latter was completely liquidated in the 1970s by "pushing" all the gravestones onto the steep cliffs of the Dniester with heavy equipment. Today, the multi-faith cemetery is mostly densely overgrown with trees-self-sown and bushes. It serves as a pasture. The cemetery contains more than 200 Christian tombstones of various, very interesting compositions. Most remain in a poor state of preservation. Among the tombstones inventoried so far, a unique tombstone of Tokarzewski was found with a partially legible inscription in Polish. The tombstone of Tokarzewski, who died on 7 January 1831, was, before the works started, located in a part partly overgrown with bushes, among tall grasses. The rectangular sandstone slab measuring 18 cm x 170 cm x 74 cm lay partially sunken into the ground. The face of the slab with corner edges slightly rounded. Along these a straight, deep frame clearly marked with deep ritual technique. In the upper part of the face is a small panel with moulded edges filled with a representation of a Latin cross on a triangular base. Below this, in 13 rows, is a wrought-iron depressions forming tightly filled inscriptions (plain script, two-element majuscule with serifs, stylised capitula).

Deteriorating technical condition and inadequate preservation warrants repair work
as a matter of urgency.

Completed works:
The project consisted of conservation work on the Tokarzewski tombstone in the multi-faith cemetery in Jahorlik. The project is a continuation of the activity carried out with funds from the ICDNS by the MOSTY Foundation in 2016 in the village of Wisniówka. It is an important element of the strategic action related to the protection of Polish historical heritage in the East. The project was fully consulted with experts and representatives of the Polish Embassy in Chisinau. The conservation work was preceded by a three-year inventory, financed under another programme of the Institute - Volunteers, and prepared on the basis of studies drawn up after local inspections carried out in 2019-2020. The task was also supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Chisinau.

Funding: the Programme of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage "Protection of Cultural Heritage Abroad".

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

• Fundacja MOSTY, realizacja w roku 2021.