Powązki Cemetery, Catholic cemetery in Wola district, Warsaw, Poland.
Powązki Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery in Wola district, Warsaw, Poland. The grounds extend across several sections with decorated tombstones, sculptural monuments and the historic Saint Karol Boromeusz Church at its northern edge.
The cemetery was founded in 1790 on land from nobleman Melchior Szymanowski and designed by Dominik Merlini, court architect of King Stanisław August Poniatowski. The Avenue of the Distinguished was created in 1925 and gathers graves of Nobel laureates, artists, composers and writers.
The lanes are organized by profession and show graves of actors, musicians and poets in separate areas. Visitors often walk from grave to grave reading the names on the stones that reflect Polish cultural life across centuries.
The cemetery is located at Powązkowska street 14 and is best visited on weekdays outside of holidays. On All Saints Day thousands of people arrive and light candles, making the paths crowded and slow.
More than one million people rest here, including the parents and sisters of Fryderyk Chopin. The filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski and World War II hero Irena Sendlerowa are also buried in this cemetery.
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