Unique Monuments of Lychakiv Cemetery

Lviv’s Romeo and Juliet

If in the world they said that they love each other like Romeo and Juliet, then in Lviv they would say: they love each other like Wanda and Artur.

There are probably as many love stories as there are couples in this world. But some become legends. Lviv baroness Wanda Mone met him at her first ball. He seemed to her like a Spanish hidalgo. But it turned out to be the famous local artist Arthur Grodgger. He offers to dance all evening only with her because he noticed her six months ago and had no chance to meet the young beauty. She is only 16. He is 28. But age did not prevent the romantic story. After the ball, he will disappear from her field of vision. But 10 days later he will come to her mother to ask for Wanda’s hand. Their meetings will become legendary. So he will gift her a monkey because she wants an exotic animal.

But the gift turned out to be too frisky, it jumped on the curtains, and to the trouble, it bit Wanda. Arthur will correct himself and bring her a more docile animal – a bear. Wanda’s mother does not mind their marriage, but she dislikes the artist’s debts. And he will go to Paris to earn money. Unfortunately, he fell ill with consumption (tuberculosis), an incurable disease at that time. He will die. And his mummified body will be brought to the inconsolable Wanda.

With her dowry, she will install a luxurious tombstone for him, on which she will order an image of herself with a falcon of fidelity. In the park, she will plant an oak tree of their love, which couples will often come to honor their love and probably ask for the same romance in relationships. During his time in France, he wrote her long letters every day, which Wanda would later publish in a two-volume edition. In Lviv, people will long say: “They love each other like Wanda and Grodger”.

The Weeping Woman and the Templar

The Templar’s Grave and the Sculpture That Can Cry

The sculpture is designed to have tears flowing down her face in the rain. She cries for the one who is not in this grave, for artillery officer Vladislav Trushkovsky. He was killed in Gaza (Palestine) during the First World War. His body will not be brought to Lviv because he had the honor of being buried in the Jerusalem catacombs (caves) of the Assumptionist Fathers. Interestingly, Vladislav was accepted into the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher order, that is the Templars, after his death. He is depicted exactly as a knight on his symbolic Lviv grave. The grave is not empty. And it’s not a grave, it’s a whole tomb, albeit hidden. Two families rest here – the Trushkovskys and the Zakreis.

Grave-Safe

The grave looks like a safe. It even had a working encoding system.

A grave should be reliable. This is what pharaohs sought already. This tomb seems extremely reliable because it resembles a bank vault. The vault door handle adds to the resemblance. When you look closer, you will find out that it is a monogram, composed of letters. This monogram is the oldest Christian cross known as the cross of Emperor Constantine. This emperor made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. The monogram consists of four letters that decipher as Jesus Christ, the beginning and the end of everything. But the most interesting thing is the columns. Because until recently they could still move.

By applying effort, they could be rotated because they were held on a metal rod. Unfortunately, the metal has rusted and now the columns are immured. Legend has it that the columns could encode the entrance. They’ve encoded it in a way that could never be opened again. This prank is suggested by the fact that the tomb, being so big, was designed for the entire Sverchynskyi family. And only one Edmund got buried there.

Могила з псами

Symbol of loyalty: dogs that consciously died on the grave of their owner out of grief.

Dogs are not part of Christian funerary symbols, with only three exceptions worldwide, and one is present before us. This family tomb of the Armenian artist Ivanovich is guarded by two dogs. Tears of sorrow flow from their eyes, as they consciously refused to leave the grave of their owner, abstaining from food until they passed away on it. One of the dogs lived a day longer, hence, two tears flow from his right eye. The names Nero and Pluto are scratched on their collars. Perhaps, it’s just a legend, but it beautifully illustrates the Christian virtue of loyalty.

Childless Father

He had no biological children, yet he became a father to many orphans.

On the gravestone of Mr. Yuzef Torosyevich, he is depicted with two children. The children are dressed in long robes, and, surprisingly, they are boys. Another unexpected detail is that Yuzef was childless. Why are there children depicted then? It turns out that he was the founder of an orphanage for Armenian boys. Why Armenian? Despite his name and surname sounding Polish, in the 19th century, Armenians in Lviv adopted Polonized names and surnames. So, the former Torosyans became Torosyevich.

The monument’s creator, Edmund Yaskulsky, was deaf and mute, yet he knew how to make a stone speak in his place. However, the world did not fully understand him, and the sculptor eventually took his own life.

Sleeping Beauty

Singer who cannot bear the death of children and will pass away after leaving the stage.

The sculpture resembles the famous fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. It seems as if she is just waiting for a kiss to awaken. However, her life was no fairy tale. Markovska, an opera singer with a rare soprano, lost two little sons. Her heart could not reconcile with the grief. Nevertheless, here is more legend than truth. But the monument calls for romance. According to one version, she drank poison. According to another, she left the stage, laid down to rest, and fell into eternal sleep. The sculptor probably felt more than friendship for her, creating such a masterpiece. However, the monument in front of you is not complete. Until 1958, an angel with outspread wings guarded her peace. Nevertheless, it was destroyed by a tree. Thus, tragedies pursued her even after death.

Grave as the firm’s advert

This advert showes what a master can turn stones into.

Here rests the owner of the stone company that made the monuments, Austrian Leopold Schimser and his companion Zulani. Shimzers founded a whole dynasty of sculptors in Lviv, but Leopold was more able to sell than create. At first glance, nothing special about the monument. And when you look closely, you see different degrees of processing and different rocks of stone. Here is marble, granite, basalt of different sizes and sandstone. Some blocks of rough cultivation, others carefully polished. A stone cross can not be distinguished from wooden. Oak roots, fern, ivy, daisies,… We will not see this on any monument of Lviv.

Dimensionless-tomb

How to determine the size of the crypts. Eyes will not understand

The tomb was created for the Greek Catholic bishops. It consists of three branches. Now there are 23 coffins in one of them. The remaining two branches are still waiting for their guests empty. Nevertheless, the external dimensions are quite small and therefore its capacity is impressive. This is a kind of mine that can unite many generations. Among the buried are Baron and Archbishop Grigory Yakhimovich, the inventor of economic machines, secret adviser to the Austrian emperor and chairman of the revolutionary parliament of Ukrainians in Galicia during the revolution of 1848. Spiridon Litvinovich – assistant to the papal throne, Count of Rome. Julian Kuilovsky, chamberlain of the pope, in his youth the Turkish captain.

Grave-hat

In the corridor of death, he will lose only his hat and will remember it all his life

The grave of Jozef Sas-Chulovsky is decorated with an officer’s hat. Also it is the Latin letter “N” on it. This indicates service in Napoleon’s army. Then many Poles served in it, because they hoped for the revival of Poland torn by neighbors. Many of them fought in distant Spain. Conquered and not conquered completely. The Spaniards will arrange a corridor of death near Madrid. Almost no one escaped from it undamaged. Our Jozef also suffered losses. He lost only his hat. She was shot down by an enemy bullet. Jozef will live another 55 years, but this event is so memorable for him that it was immortalized on his tombstone.

Formula of longevity

Recipe for longevity from the Lviv Armenian archbishop

Luxurious Gothic tomb with a sculpture of the late bishop in full growth. They say she inadvertently helped discover the secret of longevity. The bishop fell seriously ill, and since he already had a respectable age – 75 years, he hoped for a near end. During his lifetime he ordered this majestic tomb and waited, but death did not come for 28 years. In general, he lived incredibly long.

Almost 104 years. From this, the residents of Lviv concluded that death will forget about you for a long time if you have a ready luxurious grave during your lifetime. Unfortunately, that is only a legend. Mr. Stefanovic could not see his tomb because it was built at the expense of the faithful. The flock could not create a tombstone for a living bishop. It would be too transparent a hint, and the sculptor was born only 6 years after the death of the bishop…

Leopold-Levitsky

The most unusual modern tombstone in the form of a signature on the grave of a modernist

What he painted that has. That’s what you can say about the tombstone of the artist – modernist. Some strange bends are either his signature “LL” – Leopold Levitsky, or two wings that are interpreted as & nbsp; he and his muse-wife Genya Belzionovna. According to legend, the sculptor made one wing broken to show the suffering of the artist.

It is interesting that in Poland he is not recognized at the official level because he is a socialist, and in the USSR he was disliked because he is a socialist, not a communist. Despite the fact, that Lviv artists considered him astheir patriarch, he was never awarded a single personal exhibition.

Grave-suicide

Legendary warrior. He went on his last campaign at 72

Suicide has no place in a Christian cemetery. But when you are a national hero, such little things no longer pay attention. He will even install the highest tombstone in the cemetery (except for the chapels). This is a pyramid with symbols of Poland – a crown and an eagle. The deceased is depicted as a wounded lion. This is the legendary artilleryman, defender of Warsaw from the Russian troops Julian Constantine Ordon. He becomes a legend thanks to Mickiewicz, who will describe his feat in the poem “Redoubt Ordona.”

True, Ordon heroically dies for his homeland in it. He survived. He moved to Scotland, and at the end of his years, at 75, he will also take part in the campaign of Garibaldi. This campaign led to the formation of a dozen small states of united Italy. Two more years will pass, and Ordon in calm Florence will commit suicide. Descendants will fulfill the testament of the hero and transport his ashes to Lviv.

The stolen grave

This tombstone sculpture had the fate of a traveler

At that time (1910) teaching at Lviv University was conducted in Polish. The promised Ukrainian departments did not open. Students protested. One of the leaders of the prostrated movement shot a Polish nationalist in the corridor of the university. He died in his mother’s arms. The grieving mother was depicted on his grave. Under her feet is a symbol of the transience of life – an hourglass. Only here he is with wings. After World War II, the mother sculpture travels somewhere. It was found only in Riga cemetery (Latvia). In the edns, the sculpture of mother was returned to her son, and she continues to mourn him, not someone else’s grave

He died because of studying

What is too much, is not normal. He died because of excessive studying!

Stanislav Zborovsky. He is 28 years old. He is a doctor of law (jurisprudence). All life seemed ahead, but poor health is not the best ally to learning. On the tombstone, his hand hangs over the books, which shows one of the causes of death. Two worthy Lviv sculptures Anthony Kuzhava and Julian Markovsky worked on the monument. They depicted Stanislav as a man of the 19th century in an ancient Roman lodge. Roman eagles, a broken column instead of a pillow,… In the end, Roman law became the basis of modern European law.

She died because of her husband’s invention

Pharmacist lost his wife in a fire because of his invention

On the tombstone, two girls call to heaven for help, and flames are already reaching their feet. One was only twenty-one years old, the other only seventeen. This is an example of how the invention took revenge on the inventor. Jan Zeh in 1853 invented kerosene (kerosene). It was a global event that opened a new era in illuminated. Yes, Jan will not bring either money or happiness.

He will lose his wife, who will burn with her sister in his store. They brought barrels of fuel. It spilled. From a random passerby, a smoker caught fire. The women tried to get out and the soldier closed the door without spreading the flames. Lviv residents were frightened by the new fuel and refused to buy lamps on kerosene. Progress cannot be stopped by any tragedy. A few years later, the kerosene lamp will come to Lviv as a metropolitan miracle from Vienna.