Bernardine Cemetery, Vilnius

Bernardine Cemetery is a historic burial ground located in Vilnius. Established in 1810 by the Bernardine monks of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, the cemetery covers an area of around 38,000 square meters and contains an estimated 14,000 burial sites. Situated on the embankment of the Vilnia river, it is one of the three oldest cemeteries in Vilnius.

The development of the Bernardine Cemetery was a result of the Tsarist authorities of the Russian Empire prohibiting the burial of the dead near churches. The cemetery was originally located on the outskirts of the city, in the Užupis district, just east of the city center. Columbaria were constructed on the east and west sides of the cemetery, and it was expanded in 1860.

After World War II, the cemetery was abandoned and began to deteriorate. It was closed in the 1970s and remained almost unchanged until the late 1990s, when restoration and reconstruction of its buildings and monuments, including the western columbarium, began. The eastern columbarium had almost entirely disappeared, and many of the oldest graves had sunk into the ground and become covered in moss.

In 2005, on the initiative of the Adam Mickiewicz conservation group, work on the restoration of the cemetery began, with the aim of restoring the necropolis for the two hundredth anniversary of its founding in 2010. More than a hundred historic tombstones have been renovated, with a focus on those of Polish and Lithuanian participants of the January Uprising, Home Army soldiers, and past faculty of the Stefan Batory University. Further renovations are planned for the future.

Today, the Bernardine Cemetery is an important cultural heritage. It serves as a reminder of the rich cultural and religious traditions of Vilnius, and its restoration has helped to preserve this important piece of Lithuania's history for future generations to enjoy.