Bernardine Cemetery in Užupis (Lithuanian: Bernardinų kapinės) The first Bernardine Cemetery was located near the Church of Bernardine Fathers, between the churches of Saints Francis and Bernard, Saint Anne and Saint Michael. When St Anne's Street was being laid out, based on a decision of the Vilnius magistrate on 25 February 1810, at the request of the Catholic German Congregation of St Martin by St Anne's Church, the cemetery was moved to Zarzecze and located in a picturesque place on a steep escarpment above the Vileyka River.

The plan of the new Bernardine Cemetery is attributed to Joseph Poussier (d. 1821). A gate built around 1820, connected to a bell tower for three bells, leads into the necropolis. In the centre of the cemetery, a small, neoclassical erection chapel with a statue of the Crucified Christ was erected. The main building, located in the oldest, western part of the necropolis, is a two-storey pre-burial chapel built by Karol Gregotowicz in 1825-1827, probably to a design by Jozef Poussier, close to - now the remains of - two three-storey columbariums.

Vilnius University professors, artists, writers, musicians, scientists, teachers, social and cultural activists, politicians, doctors, lawyers, engineers, clergymen, insurgents of 1863, military men, members of well-known Vilnius families are buried in the Bernardine Cemetery. It is worth recalling such names as: Rev. Stanisław Bonifacy Jundziłł (1761-1847) - naturalist and pedagogue; Leon Borowski (1784-1846) - university professor, philologist and literary critic, discoverer of Adam Mickiewicz's talent; Michał Pełka Poliński (1785-1848) - professor of higher applied mathematics at Vilnius University; Maciej Każyński (1767-1823) - artist at Vilnius Theatre, husband of actress and translator Maria Każyńska (1777-1813); Józef Jundziłł (1794-1877) - botanist, university lecturer; Włodzimierz Mazurkiewicz (1875-1927) - one of the pioneers of Polish aviation; Zofia Bouffałowa (1837-1918) - independence activist; Stanisław Filibert Fleury (1858-1915) - prominent Vilnius photographer; famous painters: Bolesław Rusiecki (1824-1913), Kanuty Rusiecki (1800-1860) and Wincenty Sleńdziński (1837-1909). Józef Piłsudski's sister Zofia Kadenacowa (1865-1935) is buried here. Not all the names can be found on the gravestones. Some of the burial places, especially those in columbaria, have not survived to the present day.

The creators of the oldest gravestones were well-known Vilnius artists, such as Jozef Andruszczewicz, Jakub Rosiński, Jozef Kozłowski, Wincenty Łabanowski, Bolesław Jacuński, J. Korkuć or Jozef Horbacewicz. Among the authors of monuments with figural sculpture we can find Warsaw artists such as Antoni Olesiński - the signature of his studio can be seen on the monument in the Dmiszewiczs' quarters, or Leopold Wasilkowski, whose authorship includes the 'Angel of Peace' on the Mareniczs' grave. This artist is also known in Vilnius as the creator of the monument - the symbol of Vilnius Rossa - breaking the earthly fetters of the "Black Angel" from the tombstone of Iza Salmonovichówna. Numerous cast-iron monuments and crosses, mainly from around the mid-19th century, come from the manufactory in Vishnevo.

Restoration works
The Lithuanian authorities recognised the Bernardine Cemetery, closed for burials in the 1990s, as a historic complex formally protected by law. At the beginning of the 21st century, the first restoration works were undertaken under the patronage of the Presidents of Lithuania and Poland. A plaque in Polish and Lithuanian was placed on the renovated gate, part of the columbariums were rebuilt and the chapel was roofed over.

Unfortunately, a serious problem of the Bernardine Cemetery remained the condition of the slope over the Vileyka River sliding down (part of the graves had already ceased to exist). This issue could not be resolved despite work undertaken before 2010, the 200th anniversary of the Bernardine Cemetery. On the Lithuanian side, the Adam Mickiewicz Foundation for the Promotion of Lithuanian-Polish Relations was in charge of the conservation and renovation works at this necropolis. On the Polish side, the cleaning, renovation and conservation work was financed by the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Remembrance. An agreement to this effect was concluded on 12 October 2005 between the above-mentioned Foundation and the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites.

More than 150 tombstones were renovated, including the graves of insurgents from 1863, soldiers of the Home Army, professors of the Stefan Batory University. Some of the graves were also renovated as part of the training of students from the Group of Art Schools in Kielce. In 2010, the final stage of work financed by the ROPWiM was carried out, and on the 200th anniversary of the necropolis, a scientific conference was held at Vilnius Town Hall, a photographic exhibition was held, and an album entitled 'The Bernardine Cemetery in Vilnius' was published, with photographs by Polish photographer Professor Krzysztof Hejke, with an introduction by Witold Banach (published by the ROPWiM). The project culminated with the publication of the monograph 'The Bernardine Cemetery in Vilnius 1810-2010' by the Lithuanian publishing house Versus Aureus - in Lithuanian in 2010 and in Polish in 2013. The book is devoted to the history of the cemetery and its restoration, as well as to Vilnius burial traditions; it also contains a list of people buried here and 152 biographical entries of prominent representatives of public life who were laid to rest in the Zarzeczany necropolis.