Evangelical Reformed Cemetery (Warsaw)

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Entrance from ul. Młynarska
Plaque at the entrance to the cemetery: Stanislao Augusto alma affulsit lux. Innoxio tumulo nunc ossa teguntur nostrorum. Legi obediens coetus reformatae confessionis. Anno dom. MDCCXCII.
Mausoleum of the Kronenberg family

The Evangelical Reformed Cemetery in Warsaw (Polish: Cmentarz ewangelicko-reformowany w Warszawie ) is located at ul.Żytnia 42 . Another entrance is at ul. Młynarska . In the north, the roughly 15,000 square meter cemetery borders the larger Evangelical-Augsburg cemetery . It was opened at the end of the 18th century during the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski and is still in use today. It is entered in the Warsaw Monuments Register (No. 310).

history

The cemetery was opened on May 2, 1792 for use by the Calvinist community in Warsaw. At that time it was 2,700 square meters in size. The old cemetery of the evangelical parishes at ul. Leszno (Polish: Cmentarz luterański i kalwiński na Lesznie ) was overcrowded at the time. After the opening of the new cemetery on Młynarska , the old one was abandoned, and today there are residential blocks from the post-war period in its place. Only the old cemetery chapel has been preserved; Today it serves as the Warsaw Chamber Opera (Polish: Opera kameralna ).

The cemetery has repeatedly been the scene of fighting and destruction. As early as 1794 it was badly damaged in the course of fighting during the Kościuszko uprising , as a site for the establishment of artillery positions. In 1831 it served again as part of the defense line in the November Uprising . It was one of the last bastions of the Polish army to fall; The facility was accordingly contested. When Warsaw was attacked in 1939, the cemetery was again used as a defender's position. And during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, the offices of leadership units of the Polish Home Army were located here , later it was fiercely fought until it finally fell into the hands of German troops. The administration building burned down, and the cemetery books were also destroyed. Walls, fences and graves were largely destroyed.

In 1947 an administration building was rebuilt elsewhere and in 1984 the cemetery chapel was also rebuilt. Until then, the service in today listed building had Mausoleum of Leopold Kronenberg occurred. Significant major events in the history of the cemetery were the funeral of Katarzyna Sowińska (Katharina, nee Schraeder), the widow of General Józef Sowiński in 1860 , and the funeral of Stefan Żeromski in 1925 . In addition to Calvinists, members of other faiths were also buried here over the centuries, such as Huguenots and Swiss Protestants (members of the Lacour, Lardelin, Semadini families), Jews (Kronenberg, Halpern, Loewenstein families), Anglicans , Methodists , Baptists , Adventists or Arians . Andrzej Szczypiorski , who was dissatisfied with developments in the Catholic Church, was buried here in place of the prestigious Powązki cemetery .

The owner of the cemetery is the Evangelical Reformed Congregation in Warsaw at Aleja Solidarności 76a , which belongs to the Evangelical Reformed Church - part of the Polish Ecumenical Council . The cemetery is used ecumenically ; it is open to members of other Protestant faiths. In 1989 a committee for the preservation and maintenance of the cemetery was established (Polish: Społeczny Komitet Opieki nad Zabytkami Cmentarza Ewangelicko-Reformowanego w Warszawie ).

Graves of important people

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marek Andrzejewski, Swiss in Poland: Traces of the History of Building a Bridge , Issue 4, Volume 174 of the Basel Contributions to History , Studia Polono-Helvetica, ISBN 978-3-7965-1749-5 , Schwabe & Company Ag, 2002, p. 74
  2. ↑ Marta Kijowska, The Last Righteous: Andrzej Szczypiorski: A Biography , ISBN 978-3-351-02560-1 , Aufbau Verlag GmbH, 2003, p. 353

Web links

Commons : Evangelical Reformed Cemetery (Warsaw)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 14 ′ 22 ″  N , 20 ° 58 ′ 23 ″  E