Established in 1879, St Michael's Cemetery in Riga is the burial place of many distinguished people of Polish descent in Latvia. As of 2021. POLONIKA Institute took it under permanent conservation care.

Work carried out in 2022

In 2022, we selected the following tombstones for conservation:

Tombstone of Count Gustav Broël Plater;
Gustavus Christopher Count Broël-Plater (1849-1923) - son of Christopher and Elisabeth née Cissowski. He inherited from his parents the Długie estate (Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship), which he sold in 1904. An engineer by profession. He married the last heiress of the Krasław estate in Inflants - Countess Marie Broël-Plater, born in 1862, daughter of Edward and Stefania, née Morykoni, who died in Madrid in 1947. In their possession was the so-called 'Kraslaw Chronicle' and other family documents. In 1916, before the German invasion, the more valuable collections were sent to St Petersburg for safety, where they were lost in 1917. The Kraslaw library contained some 30,000 volumes, a rich family archive (including correspondence dating back to the 17th century) and a large collection of engravings. Gustav Plater died without an heir on 19 March 1923.

Gustaw Kurzeniecki's tombstone with a fence;
Tombstones of Ignacy Morglec, Józefa Trochimowicz, Aleksander Szymkiewicz;
. Ignacy Morgulec was born on 29 July 1857 in the village of Biełarzki in Kiev Province. He was a graduate of the Riga Gymnasium. In 1878-79 he studied at the Faculty of Engineering, and in 1880-1886 at the Faculty of Architecture of the Riga Polytechnic (now the University of Latvia), from which he graduated. He was one of the founders of the Polish academic corporation Arkonia (no. 43), established on 9 May 1879. He contributed two songs, which are an important part of the corporation's traditions. He translated from German into Polish the text of the song to the colours, "The Second Official", written by Piotr Czarniecki for the first opening ceremony of the corporation in 1879. The final form of this song was developed by Arkonia's friend, Baron Gustaw Manteuffel, a philistine of the Dorpat Polonia. In addition, Ignatius Morgulec co-authored the translation of the 'Opening Song', the 'Song of Reunion' and the 'Gaudeamus'.

After his studies, Morgulec worked in Odessa, St Petersburg and Kiev. He was a manager in the technical office of the architect Florian Vyganovsky in Riga. He died in 1909.

Martynoff family tombstone with fence
Prelate Adolf Martynoff came from a merchant family from the Livonian Governorate. He graduated from the Roman Catholic St. Petersburg Theological Academy with a master's degree in theology. He was ordained a priest in 1867 and was appointed vicar in the Riga church. In 1868 he became a teacher of law at the provincial grammar schools in Riga, and in 1873 he became custodian and chaplain of the University of Dorpat. On 29 January 1876, he was honoured with the title of canon of the chapter of the Mogilev archdiocese.

This year's conservation work consisted of cleaning the objects from biological and chemical build-up, disinfecting them and, if necessary, stabilising them or making a new foundation. This was followed by the restoration of cavities, after which the surface was properly treated so that the appearance was similar to the original. In the case of two tombstones (the tombstone of Gustaw Plater and the tombstone of Józefa Trochimowicz), it was decided to reconstruct the missing stripes.

Work on the objects also included the conservation and restoration of the metal fences, which were cleaned, deformed, missing elements were reconstructed, and then covered with a layer of zinc and protected with topcoat paint.

Executor: Witold Butkiewicz Conservation of Monuments.

Work carried out in 2021.

The following tombstones underwent conservation in 2021:

the tombstone of Kocia and Lala Szyksznis - daughters of the Lithuanian pedagogue Marceli Szyksznis - director of the Vytautas Magnus Gymnasium in Vilnius and member of the Lithuanian Scientific Society. Kocia and Lala Szyksznis died of scarlet fever on 17 January 1909.
. During the conservation work, the object was stabilised - new foundations were made for the concrete sarcophagus and the monument with the figural representation. The stone elements of the tombstone were cleaned and then coated with a biocidal preparation. The restorations were made in mineral paste. The concrete sarcophagus was cleaned, disinfected and restorations were made and then laser-unified with a coat of paint. The work also included the metal fence around the grave field, the elements of which were straightened, cleaned and coated with a rust inhibitor and new anti-corrosion paint.

The tombstone of Wanda and Konstanty Czerwiński - the burial place of the engineer, general, Major Konstanty Czerwiński and his son Stefan, as well as their relative, Wanda Czerwińska. The monument is decorated with a sculpture by Warsaw sculptor Antoni Olesiński.
A major threat to the object was its deviation from the vertical axis. It was necessary to strengthen the foundation by building a concrete bench directly in front of the front side of the foundation. The tombstone was then plumbed by re-bricking the foundation with stones and concrete blocks on mortar.

The sculpture was cleaned, disinfected and strengthened with an organosilicon preparation. Restorations were carried out on the sculpture and the pedestal. The letters of the inscription were deepened using carving chisels. Finally, the stone elements were protected with a hydrophobic preparation.

At the same time, conservation work was carried out on the metal fence.

The grave of Władysław Czerniewski - the works included cleaning the angel sculpture decorating the tombstone from secondary layers of paint and the cement screed underneath. The defects were filled with a mineral compound similar in colour and properties to the original. The terrazzo pedestal and the alabaster inscription plaque were cleaned and polished, and the inscriptions were restored to their original polish and legibility. The whole was disinfected and plumbed. The angel sculpture was laser-painted and the additions to the pedestal were colour-unified.
Executor: Bartłomiej Kubiak Conservation of Monuments.

Conservation work carried out between 2021 and 2023, Conservation Programme, Polonica Institute.