The cemetery was established in 1905 as the parish’s second cemetery. The initiative for its creation came from parish priest Ryszard Markwart, as well as Władysław Gogoliński, who was the author of the “green architecture” concept. It was laid out on a rectangular plan, with an internal division into 26 sections. A funeral chapel was situated in the center, surrounded by circular and perpendicular paths arranged in a star-shaped pattern.

Until the establishment of subsequent Catholic parish cemeteries in the 1920s, the Nowofarny Cemetery served as the city’s main burial ground for Catholics. In its center are the graves of soldiers who fell during World War I (1914–1918), the graves of the Greater Poland insurgents, and the graves of soldiers who fell in the Polish–Bolshevik War of 1920.

In 1930, on the tenth anniversary of the “Miracle on the Vistula,” sculptor J. Job commissioned a monument to the Queen of the Polish Crown, depicting the Virgin Mary with the Child.

During the Nazi occupation, the cemetery served as a center of Polish identity. Valuable works of art and books were stored in the old tombs; after the war, they were returned to museum collections and private owners. Those executed in the Old Market Square, whose names were difficult to determine, were buried in the cemetery, and objects or “special markers,” which made it possible to identify the exhumed bodies after the war.

In 1945, a municipal cemetery was established on the land adjacent to the necropolis on the east side. Nearly 1,200 Soviet soldiers who fell in the battles to liberate Bydgoszcz in January 1945, as well as over 200 prisoners of war, were buried there. In later years, an obelisk was erected in honor of the fallen Red Army soldiers, along with a commemorative plaque. Meanwhile, burials of deceased party activists and officials of the Polish People’s Republic’s state administration began in the Avenue of the Distinguished.

After World War II, the area adjacent to the cemetery on the north side, belonging to the EvangelicalAugsburg Evangelical Church, became the city’s main Evangelical cemetery following the closure of the large, historic Evangelical cemetery on Jagiellońska Street and its conversion into Ludowy Park.

In 1971, a new Catholic pastoral center for the City Center was established, with the chapel at the Nowofarny Cemetery designated as its seat. On December 1, 1979, the Parish of the Holy Cross was established, separated from the Parish of St. Vincent à Paulo. Due to difficulties in obtaining approval for the location of the new church, the chapel was converted into a parish church between 1982 and 1986 under the direction of Monsignor Eugeniusz Barełkowski. The church was designed by engineer Jerzy Tomaszewski, and the towers were designed by engineer Zbigniew Lewiński, all from Bydgoszcz. The church was dedicated on December 16, 1984, and consecrated on December 16, 1990, by Cardinal Józef Glemp— the Primate of Poland. The church has a usable area of 970 m², and the eastern wing houses catechetical rooms and the rectory.

After 1989, an area within the municipal cemetery was set aside for the burial of civilians; in 1995, was transferred to the parish and is now part of the Nowofarny Cemetery. Meanwhile, the section for Soviet Army soldiers, separated by a green belt, is still maintained by municipal services.

In the 1990s, restoration work began on the old gravestones of individuals who rendered distinguished service to Bydgoszcz and the region. This work is supported by funds raised by the residents of Bydgoszcz during All Souls’ Day.

The cemetery measures 330 × 245 m and covers an area of 7.94 ha (11.9 ha including the municipal section). The burial grounds are divided into 28 sections. At the center stands the parish church of the Holy Cross.

Within the cemetery grounds, there are 76 freestanding tombstones from the first half of the 20th century, 88 graves and 6 tomb chapels from the first half of the 20th century, as well as 2,480 freestanding tombstones from the second half of the 20th century. The oldest surviving tombstone dates back to 1906.

World War I Soldiers’ Section

It is located along Artyleryjska Street and consists only of a lawn and a commemorative plaque engraved with the inscription: “Graves of soldiers who fell during World War I, 1914–1918”.

Plot of Soldiers Who Fell in the Bolshevik War of 1920

It is located on the south side of the Church of the Holy Cross and is partially separated from the cemetery by a green belt. Six insurgents from the 1919 Greater Poland Uprising and 220 participants in the 1920 Polish-Bolshevik War are buried here, as indicated by a terrazzo plaque. At the site where the remains of the Greater Poland insurgents are buried stands a monument to the Virgin Mary with the Child— Queen of the Polish Crown.

The Polish Army Soldiers’ Section from 1945

It is located on the western side of the cemetery, next to the graves of World War I soldiers. A hedge runs along its border on Artyleryjska Street, and a strip of greenery runs along the cemetery side. It consists of 35 individualoacute;lnych graves, which hold a total of 129 soldiers who died from wounds sustained during the battles for Bydgoszcz, as well as several graves of soldiers who died at a later date.

Soviet Army Soldiers’ Section

It is located in the eastern part of the cemetery on land maintained by municipal services, separated from the civilian section by a green belt. In the center of the area stands an obelisk honoring the fallen, along with a commemorative plaque bearing inscriptions in Polish and Russian. The section is the final resting place of 1,409 soldiers who fell during the liberation of Bydgoszcz and in battles in the surrounding area. The graves are marked with obelisks bearing a red star and informational grave markers listing the name and hometown of the soldier whose remains were exhumed.

The Nowofarny Cemetery is the final resting place for the largest number of distinguished residents of Bydgoszcz. Here lie the graves of social activists, fighters for Polish identity, Honorary Citizens of the City of Bydgoszcz, mayors of Bydgoszcz, as well as renowned doctors, teachers, writers, and artists.

Source: www.polskie-cmentarze.pl

Nowofarny Cemetery

Zobacz:

Zaplanuj pobyt:

O nas: