The Rasos

The exhibition organized by The National Institute of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad POLONIKA covers the Rasos Cemetery in Vilnius, the most precious of the old cemeteries in Vilnius. It is situated on picturesque hills covered in old trees and has enormous value, both historic, as the burial place of many notable people, and artistic, because of its art and architecture. This cemetery is a part of Polish heritage outside the Polish state, but at the same time it is significant element of the heritage and identity of the present day Independent Lithuania. The necropolis is under the care of the Committee of the Preservation of the Old Rasos Cemetery, which raises the founds through collections and private donations as well as by means of the co-operation with Polish NGOs which conduct restoration work financed – among others – by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. In 2018 restoration programme was set up by the Lithuanian authorities.

While walking in the Rasos Cemetery we are constantly remined of Polish or Lithuanian history. We encounter the tomb of the Polish historian Joachim Lelewel or that of Jonas Basanavičius, one of the fathers of the independence of Lithuania and of the contemporary Lithuanian language. In other places we come across the less known historical figures of insurgents and social activists. When we leave the main alley, a side path leads us to the tomb of the professor of literature, Euzebiusz Słowacki. A little further is the tomb of another Vilnius professor, August Bécu, who died struck by ball lighting while sleeping in his own bed. The former was the father of the poet Juliusz Słowacki, the latter was his stepfather. The visitor encounters the name of eminent scholars, politicians, social leaders, writers and artists, such as the “famous European guitarists”, as the inscription on the tomb of Marek Sokołowski reads, the banker and philanthropist Józef Montwiłł, the poet Władysław Syrokomla, now a little forgotten, the architect Antoni Wiwulski, and the Lithuanian painter, composer and writer Mikalojus Konstantnias Čiurlionis. And if we delve into the furthest recesses of the cemetery, we may reach the tomb of Tadeusz Wróblewski, who was particularly important in the history of Vilnius and was the founder of one of the most important libraries in the history of Vilnius and was the founder of one of the most important libraries in the city. Sadly, some tombs, like the tomb of the painter Franciszek Smuglewicz, can no longer be found as they disappeared when the catacombs were demolished.

The great importance of the Rasos Cemetery for the Polish and Lithuanian national identity is due to the heroes who are buried there. The graves of Polish soldiers who were killed in the years 1919-1920 and during WWII surround the mausoleum of the Mother and Son’s Heart, which enshrines Marshal Józef Piłsudski’s heart buried next to his mother, Maria Piłsudska nee Billewicz.

The idea of a landscape cemetery was originated by a Classical architect, Pietro de Rossi, and the Military Cemetery was designed by Wojciech Jastrzębowski. The vast majority of the tombs in the Rasos Cemetery were built by the competing local workshops – Bikner’s, Baranowski’s, Pawłowski’s. However, some monuments were created by the Vilnius artists, such as Jakub Rosiński, Józef Horbaczewski, Józef Andruszkiewicz, Bolesław Bałzukiewicz, Leonas Żuklys or Rafał Jachimowicz. Several tombs were brought to Vilnius from other places, created e.g. by Pruszyński’s workshop from Warsaw, Leopold Wasilkowski or Zygmunt Otto. Interestingly, one of the tombs was brought from Żytomierz, situated 600 km away, but it is in no way different from other tombs.

The involvement of the Committee for the Preservation of the Old Rasos Cemetery (founded in 1990) has resulted in conducing tidying, protection and restoration works, which were funded from public fundraising, the contribution on NGOs and private donors and from the founds of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Recently the Vilnius City Council received EU funding for the restoration of the Rasos Cemetery. Attempts to describe the tombs and record the inscriptions have been made since the 19th century. In the years 2013-2016 a research team consisting of staff members and associates of the Institute of History of Art of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw carried out such a documentative project, the results of which are published at: cmentarznarossie.uksw.edu.pl