Cemetery in Chełm, Historical cemetery in Chełm, Poland.
The Cemetery in Chełm is a burial ground on Lwowska Street, founded in 1802 and divided into Roman Catholic and Uniate quarters, later Orthodox. Two chapels remain: the early 19th-century chapel funded by Ignacy Bielski and the neo-Gothic Zajdler chapel built in 1908 by notary Władysław Zajdler. Nineteenth-century tombstones include that of Sebastian Czaplic from 1832 and Colonel Tadeusz Zawistowski from 1855.
The cemetery was established in 1802 on the orders of the Austrian authorities, who required burials to be moved outside the town and older churchyard cemeteries to be closed. It occupied land belonging to a Uniate hospital, with a brick chapel funded by Ignacy Bielski as its central point. After the Uniate diocese of Chełm was dissolved, the Uniate quarter became Orthodox, and the cemetery was extended southward onto land bought from Karol Radziszewski and Józef Skibiński.
The cemetery was originally divided into Roman Catholic and Uniate quarters; after the Uniate diocese of Chełm was dissolved, the Uniate quarter became Orthodox. The cemetery also holds graves of Polish soldiers from the Polish–Soviet War, Polish participants of World War II, and a cross commemorating January Uprising insurgents, probably containing remains from the Battle of Depułtycze.
The cemetery lies on Lwowska Street, with the 1802 layout centred on Ignacy Bielski's brick chapel; the Zajdler chapel of 1908 stands among the graves. The grounds were extended southwards after the Uniate diocese was dissolved, so the older 19th-century tombstones cluster in the original part. Look for the memorial cross to the January Uprising insurgents.
The gravestones display regional styles of funerary art that reveal differences between wealthy and modest family burial sites. These contrasts provide insight into the social structure of the city during the last two centuries.
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