- Antakalnis Cemetery
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Antakalnis Cemetery (Lithuanian: Antakalnio kapinės), sometimes referred as Antakalnis Military Cemetery, is the cemetery in the Antakalnis district of Vilnius in Lithuania. It was established in 1809.
The victims of Soviet Army forces' attacks during the January Events of 1991 and the Medininkai Massacre are buried here. Other graves include those of Polish soldiers perished in 1919-1920, a memorial of Lithuanian as well as German and Russian soldiers fallen in World War I and Red Army soldiers of World War II (constructed in 1951, rebuilt 1976-1984). In 2003, over 3,000 French and other soldiers of the Grande Armée of Napoleon I who took part in the 1812 invasion of Russia were reburied at the cemetery after their bodies were excavated some two years prior from French-dug trenches that were used by the victorious Russians as mass graves due to the frozen state of the ground; French and Lithuanian diplomats participated in the internment ceremony[1]. The remains of 18 more soldiers from the army who were dumped into a different area were reburied in November 2010[2].
The famous people buried in the Antakalnis Cemetery include:- Marian Zdziechowski (1861-1938) - Polish philosopher and historian
- Teodor Bujnicki (1907-1944) - Polish poet
- Ieva Simonaitytė (1897-1978) - Lithuanian writer
- Antanas Venclova (1906-1979) - Lithuanian and Soviet politician
- Jurga Ivanauskaitė (1961-2007) - Lithuanian writer
- Janina Miščiukaitė-Brazaitienė (1949-2008) - singer
- Vytautas Kernagis (1951-2008) - singer and songwriter
- Algirdas Brazauskas (1932-2010) - politic, first president of independent Lithuania, elected in 1993.
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Saulės Cemetery
The Saulės Cemetery is another cemetery in Antakalnis sometimes referred to as Antakalnis Cemetery. It is the old parish cemetery of St. Peter and St. Paul Church, established in 1830 and is the place of rest of many noble Poles and Lithuanians.
Famous people buried here include members of Ogiński and Zawisza families, Danielius Alseika, Jonas Kazlauskas, Teodoras Valaitis and Józef Zawadzki (1781-1838), the editor of the first poems of Adam Mickiewicz.
Image gallery
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Monument for German and Russian soldiers of World War I
References
- ^ "Napoleon's Soldiers Finally Get a Burial". The Moscow Times. 2 June 2003. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003/06/02/251-print.html.
- ^ "Napoleon's defeated soldiers buried in Lithuania". BBC News. 29 November 2010 Last updated at 14:21 ET. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11868737.
External links
- (English) Visitor's guide to Antakalnis Cemetery
- Gallery of the cemetery
See also
- Rasos Cemetery
- Bernardine Cemetery (Vilnius)
Categories:- Military memorials and cemeteries
- Cemeteries in Vilnius
- Polish culture
- Lithuania stubs
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