Remarkable cemeteries: from Powązki to the Merry Cemetery in Romania
A cemetery is not only a place of sorrow. It is a book of the city's history, a gallery of sculpture, and a garden of silence. Here are places worth visiting with respect and curiosity.
Ezostylia Editorial Team · facts checked in sources · updated 31.10.2026
Old Powązki, Warsaw
Founded in 1790, it is one of the oldest cemeteries in Poland. Bolesław Prus, Stanisław Moniuszko, Władysław Reymont, and thousands of Warsaw's citizens rest here. Every year on 1 November, actors and journalists collect donations here to fund the restoration of historic gravestones.
Łyczaków Cemetery, Lviv, and Na Rossie, Vilnius
Łyczaków, founded in 1786, is one of the most beautiful necropolises in Europe, with the graves of Maria Konopnicka and Gabriela Zapolska, as well as the Cemetery of the Lwów Eagles. The Vilnius cemetery at Rossa, founded in 1801, holds the grave of Józef Piłsudski's mother, in which the marshal's heart was laid to rest in 1936.
Chapel of Skulls, Czermna
In Czermna, today part of Kudowa-Zdrój, parish priest Wacław Tomaszek and gravedigger J. Langer began in 1776 to collect the bones of victims of wars and epidemics and to arrange them within the chapel. The walls and ceiling are covered with the remains of more than 3,000 people, whilst approximately 21,000 more rest in the crypt. It is one of the most moving memento mori in Poland.
Merry Cemetery, Săpânța
In the Romanian village of Săpânța, wooden crosses are painted in a vivid shade of blue and decorated with pictures from the lives of the deceased, along with humorous verses. They were first created in 1935 by local sculptor Stan Ioan Pătraș. Death is depicted here with a smile and tenderness.
Père-Lachaise, Paris
Opened in 1804, it is the most famous cemetery in the world. Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, and Fryderyk Chopin lie here; Chopin's heart, in accordance with his wishes, returned to Warsaw and rests in the Church of the Holy Cross.
How to visit
When visiting cemeteries, keep silent, do not step on graves, and do not photograph people who are in mourning. Many necropolises have guidebooks and marked touring routes, and their histories are best told by local guides.
Read more
You will find all 30 topics in the section Mysteries of life and death.
Want to ask your own question? Ask Luna or draw a card of the day.
Sources
Kaplica Czaszek w Czermnej, Wikipedia · Merry Cemetery, Wikipedia · Cmentarz Powązkowski, Wikipedia
Frequently asked questions
Where is Chopin's heart?
In the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw; the composer's body rests at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
How many skulls are there in the Chapel of Skulls in Czermna?
The walls and ceiling are covered with the remains of more than 3,000 people, and approximately 21,000 more have been laid to rest in the crypt.