Original Catholic Cemetery
 |
|
The original Catholic cemetery is located
to the west of the town centre, just behind the modern
Ukrainian Orthodox church, bordered to the north by
what is now Koliyova Str. About 1.6 hectares (4 acres)
in area, the cemetery’s distinctive shape appears on
a map of Tluste from 1858 (area of light blue), and
it is clearly marked on subsequent maps of the town.
Presumably burials took place there for well over one
hundred years, until it was closed in the 1960s and
replaced by the new cemetery on the other side of town,
on the road leading to Lisivtsi. |
The cemetery is accessed through a gate near the church and
a central pathway that runs on a more or less east-west axis.
One finds the old tombstones of both Roman Catholics and Greek
Catholics alike, since the cemetery served both the Polish and
Ukrainian communities. There is no known index of the graves
in the cemetery. While some of the inscriptions can still be
made out, with familiar names from the past, many of the grave
stones have deteriorated beyond recognition.
| The cemetery is very badly overgrown with
brush and small trees, and it is encroached upon by the
adjacent plots of land to the immediate south. Goats can
often be seen grazing amongst the thick shrubbery. Nevertheless,
some of the graves have fresh flowers, indicating that
some visitation still occurs. |
|
 |
In Spring 2008, a major cleaning operation was undertaken
-- presumably by the municipal authorities -- to try to clear
away some of the brush and young trees. This exercise, illustrated
in the photos below, should improve access to at least some
of the graves.
|
print page
