Old Cementery

Historical Monuments

Description

An Evangelical necropolis, founded in 1660 and in operation from 1660 to 1869 and from 1945 to 1956, with many historical tombstones and the remains of graves of pre-war Guben residents. It is currently very neglected. It was designed according to Martin Luther's idea as a park. In the northern corner there is a cross commemorating the former half-timbered church.

Historical background

When in the middle of the 17th century the burial places in the cemetery at the parish church were almost completely full, the authorities of Guben decided to establish a new necropolis outside the city walls. For this purpose, a part of the vineyard on Easter Hill (Ger.: Osterberg, Pol. Wgórze Wielkanocne) was purchased, where in 1660 an Evangelical cemetery was opened. The nectropolis not only met the hygienic requirements (Latin for “outside the walls”) - it was also designed in accordance with the idea of Protestantism, which departed from the cult of relics and intercession for the dead. Martin Luther had a great influence on the form and function of the necropolises - he believed that cemeteries should be a quiet, aesthetic spatial arrangement that would motivate you to pray and reflect, resembling a park in its shape. And it was precisely according to this new principle that intricately made gravestones and tombs, belonging mainly to distinguished Guben families, were erected within the Old Cemetery. Among the buried was i. e. Johann Frank - a city councilor, mayor of the city of Guben, poet and national head of Lower Lusatia, who died in 1667.
In 1690, a half-timbered church was built, the construction of which, made possible thanks to the sacrifice of the city's inhabitants, was also seen as a monument to the gratitude of the local population for the victory over the Turks at Vienna in 1683. In the mid-nineteenth century, in the old cemetery, as in the case of the parish necropolis, the places for new graves ran out, which initiated efforts to create a much larger complex for the rapidly growing number of inhabitants. In this way, on April 17, 1869, the Eastern Cemetery (Ger. Ostfriedhof, Pol. Communal Cementry) with a large crematorium was opened for use. The first to be buried was a disabled person named Kalisch. In the same year, the Old Cementery was excluded from active use - with the exception of burials in already existing tombs or inherited places.
In the 1920s, In the 18th century, the Teichborn Str. (today Królewska Str.) was led across the cemetery area, right next to the gable wall of the church, thus significantly reducing the area of the cemetery. After the end of World War II until 1956, i.e. until the liquidation of the German tombstones in the Eastern Cemetery, the closed cemetery once again became a burial place - this time, however, for the Polish population.