Kalvariyskoe cemetery description and photos - Belarus: Minsk (Topic)

Kalvariyskoye cemetery description and photos - Belarus: Minsk. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photos and a map showing the nearest significant objects.

Photo and description

Kalvariyskoe cemetery is the oldest surviving cemetery in Minsk. It was not possible to establish the exact date of foundation. According to the preserved "Book of the Dead", in which, since the 18th century, the names of the people buried here were entered, it is more than 170 years old, however, archaeologists believe that the cemetery is about 600 years old. The total area of the cemetery is about 14 hectares, the approximate number of graves is more than 30 thousand people.

Calvaria (Latin Calvaria) is the name of the places of special veneration of the Holy Cross among Catholics, the symbol of Calvary. This is not only a cemetery. Here, processions are held on major religious holidays, depicting the Passion of Christ and the Crucifixion of Christ on Calvary in the religious mysteries. It was customary to build Calvary on a hill and erect a church on top of it, as a symbol of Calvary.

In 1645, Theodor Vankovich donated land, not far from the road leading to Rakov, to the Carmelite Order for the construction of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The monks built a wooden church, consecrated the land and began to bury only the most worthy, noble and wealthy dead in it. Representatives of the noble families of the Belarusian and Polish gentry are buried here: Vitkevichs, Gaidukevichs, Kobylinsky, Matusevichi, Monyushki, Neslukhovsky, Petrashkevichi, Piachulisy, Senkevichi, Stanishevsky, Chechoty, Shablovsky, Yurevichi, Eismont and others. Here lies the Belarusian artist Valentiy Vankovich, the Belarusian poet Yanka Luchina, the leader of the national liberation movement Vatslav Ivanovsky, the Voinilovich family, who donated the famous Red Church to Minsk. Scientists claim that even representatives of the Radziwill family are buried at the Kalvariysky cemetery.

In 1800, the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross passed to the Franciscans, who began to bury all the citizens of Minsk in the cemetery of the Catholic faith. In 1839, instead of a dilapidated wooden church, a stone Kalvariysky church was built. This church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, built in the neo-Gothic style, has survived to this day. It is one of the oldest neo-Gothic churches in Minsk.

A gate (gate) was built at the foot of the Calvary hill in 1830. The brama and the path leading to the top of the hill to the church symbolizing Golgotha embodies the idea of Salvation.

In 1967, the cemetery received the status of the historical and cultural heritage of the city of Minsk. In 2001, the cemetery received the status of the first category of historical and cultural value and an object of international importance.

The cemetery was not without urban legends. They say that once a lady was buried here, who was mistaken for dead, while she was in a lethargic sleep. Later, the alleged deceased woke up walled up in a crypt and died in terrible agony. Since then, she has wandered between mossy graves.

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Topic: Kalvariyskoe cemetery description and photos - Belarus: Minsk.