Cemetery on Pushkin Street in Brest

Belarus
2014, 2016
conservation
Belarus, Brest, Pole, polish, polish people

o projekcie

Established in the mid-19thcentury in the east part of the city, the cemetery was once a place of burial of Catholics from Brest: the burghers and officers of Polish ethnicity serving in Brest, local landowners, and many representatives of the Polish intelligentsia – doctors, officials, and lawyers.

In 1942, the German authorities governing the city ordered the cemetery to be dug up, and over two-thirds of the grave markers were relocated. In 1956, Soviets decided to close the necropolis. A few hundred gravestones and cast-iron grave markers have survived till this day, with the oldest of them dating back to the mid-19thcentury. At present, the cemetery is taken care of by the local Polish community.

2016

In 2016, the conservation focused on the grave markers of the Chrzanowski and Dzierżyński families. The idea was to clean the memorials, restore them to good appearance, reconstruct the missing fragments of sculptures, and protect the markers against recurring degradation.

New gravestones for the soldiers fallen in the 1920 Polish-Soviet War were also made. These were for: Zygmunt Bem, Karol Biel, and Jan Kędzia. The destroyed concrete markers were replaced with granite ones.

The task was carried out by a team managed by Bartosz Markowski, composed of: Krzysztof Jurków and Aleksandra Trochimowicz.

Like before, the performed works were also financed from the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ funds provided directly to the Association of Academic Traditions (the Foundation’s partner) as part of the competition entitled “Cooperation with Polish Diaspora and Poles Abroad in 2016”.

 

2014

The year 2014 marked the start of a programme of restoration of the most valuable grave markers. Pilot conservation activities involved restoring a grave marker of great aesthetic qualities, marking the place of burial of Maria Siewerth.

The task was carried out by a team managed by Bartosz Markowski, composed of: Krzysztof Jurków and Aleksandra Trochimowicz.

The performed works were financed from the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ funds provided directly to the Association of Academic Traditions (the Foundation’s partner) as part of the competition entitled “Cooperation with Polish Diaspora and Poles Abroad in 2014”.

 

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