Information about the object:
The most important part of the whole trip was the village of Styrcza. The village, located in the Glodeni region, was founded at the end of the 19th century by Poles who came mainly from the region of Kamieniec Podolski, at a time when the territory of present-day Moldova was included in the Bessarabian Governorate of the Russian Empire. The first inhabitants of the village, initially called Jelizavietowka, were led by the Wojewódzki family. The resting places of the oldest Polish settlers, as well as their descendants, make up the majority of the graves found in the Styrczynski cemetery. The tombstones are mostly written in Cyrillic script, in Russian, although the most recent or renovated burials already bear Polish inscriptions. Orthodox graves and those with Romanian inscriptions can also be found there.

Styrcza is still sometimes referred to as "Little Warsaw", as the majority of its inhabitants are Poles, largely still preserving the language and faith of their ancestors. It is also home to a Polish House that conducts Polish language lessons, publishes its own press and is a meeting place for volunteers with the local Polish community.

Work completed:

2022
Between 19 and 29 August 2022, volunteers of the 'Mogiła pradziada ocal od zapomnienia' campaign of the Studio Wschód Foundation visited our compatriots in Moldova in order to provide them with material aid and carry out cleaning and documentation work at the cemetery in the village of Styrcza. At the beginning of the project, the participants also visited the Polish House in Bielce, where they met with Polish senior citizens and young people, learned about the history of Polish settlement in Moldova and discussed the role of protecting Polish cultural heritage outside Poland.

The clean-up work was limited to just pruning grass and bushes and trimming tree branches, meaning that the site is regularly visited. The oldest sandstone monuments, dating from the 18th century, were in urgent need of restoration. On most of them, the epitaphs were obliterated and their bases were badly crumbled, which threatened to topple the monuments.

2023
The task was a continuation of the cooperation with Poles in Moldova (Styrcza, Bielce) started in 2021 by the Studio East Foundation. The task was implemented in the period 01.06-30.09.2023 and the main activity in Moldova 16-21.07.2023. 15 volunteers took part in the task.

The volunteers carried out inventory and cleaning works in the old Polish cemetery in Styrcza, documented the effects of the works and all the graves found. As part of the task, lectures were also held to increase knowledge and skills in the protection of cultural heritage and the history of the project site. Reports, articles and photo galleries were produced from the activities.

Funding: Polonica Institute programme "Polish cultural heritage abroad - volunteering".

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

https://polonika.pl

• Fundacja Studio Wschód, realizacja w roku 2022 i 2023