Lychakivske Cemetery (Lychakivske Cvintar)
Lychakivske Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries, not only in Ukraine, but in the whole of Europe. The history of more than one generation of Lviv citizens has been immortalized in sculptural compositions and stone slabs of this cemetery. This ancient cemetery was opened in 1786, although recently there is information that this cemetery is much older, and here in about 13th century buried the victims of the plague epidemic, which was rampant at that time in Europe. And Lychakiv cemetery is notable for the fact that the entire political and cultural elite of Galicia and Lodomeria were buried here.
General information
The ancient tombs of the Lychakiv cemetery were decorated with sculptures by the most famous masters of the time. Hartmann Witwer, Anton and Johan Schimzer – these are the works of these masters that have been preserved in pristine condition on the territory of the cemetery. Thanks to the sculptures of these masters, famous for their works throughout Europe, this cemetery is one of the most interesting sights of Lviv. And no wonder that crowds of tourists wishing to spend a vacation in Lviv, visit this place. Especially since if you want, you can settle very close to this really interesting place – in a cozy hotel Aeneas.
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Interesting is also the fact that the inscriptions on the tombstones of this cemetery are found not only in Polish, Ukrainian and Russian, but also in Greek, Romanian, Latin, German, and Armenian.
.In this cemetery the most famous Lviv public figures and representatives of art of various epochs found their last shelter. The list of these people is very large, and there is no sense to give it in full, but the most important of them are still worth mentioning. Here is buried a famous Ukrainian writer – Ivan Franko, famous throughout Europe – singer S. Krushelnitskaya, after whom the Lviv Opera House was named, M. Shashkevich – a member of the “Russian Trinity”, and many other famous people.
.Not one interesting urban legend keeps Lychakiv cemetery. The tomb of Wanda and Rosalie Zamoyski, the monument to the dogs Pluto and Nero, Markowski’s Sleeping Beauty, the monument to A. Grotger – these are the places of the cemetery about which people still have legends…
.A separate word should be said about the war memorials located on the territory of the cemetery, because they also attract the attention of tourists vacationing in Lviv. On the territory of the cemetery are such memorials as the “Field of Mars” – the burial place of soldiers who died in World War I, the memorial of the Sechevye Streltsy, Polish war graves from 1918-20 years, and opened relatively recently memorial to the victims of the NKVD.
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In 1990, Lychakiv Cemetery was given the status of a historical and cultural reserve. This is not surprising, because there are more than 3000 stone tombstones here, and most of them are historical and cultural values. Therefore, the large number of tourists who want to visit this place is not surprising. Well, if you decide to visit this unique place and see everything with your own eyes, you can stay at the hotel “Andriyivska”, from which you can walk to this Lviv attraction in 5-10 minutes.
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It’s not hard to get lost at the Lychakiv cemetery – few people boast that they are well oriented on all its 86 fields. But at first it’s easy – streetcar number 7 goes to Mechnikova Street, where the entrance to the cemetery is located. Then the 17th century neo-Gothic gate and the ticket office. It will take you a couple of minutes to see the impressive chapels surrounding the area near the gate – these are the mausoleums of Sukhodolskis, Kiselkis, Kshechunoviches, Adamskis, Morovskis and Ludinskis. And then there are several alleys and plenty of routes to choose from.
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