Cemetary of Nations in Wadowice revitalized

It was one of the largest, most expensive, and most difficult cemeteries to revitalize. On June 28, 2023, an official ceremony with full military ceremonies was held to consecrate the Cemetery of Nations. This ceremony was attended by representatives of state authorities and diplomats of some of the countries, whose soldiers were buried in this necropolis.

The Cemetery of Nations is not a typical World War I cemetery, as it was established much earlier, as early as the mid-19th century as a cemetery next to a military epidemic hospital. Throughout more than 100 years of its use, about 8,000 soldiers, fighting, among others, in World Wars I and II, were buried here. There are also civilian victims of wars buried here. Those buried in the Wadowice War cemetery represent at least 16 nationalities involved in the mentioned armed conflicts. Therefore, for more than thirty years the necropolis has been called the Cemetery of Nations.

‘For us Wadowice residents, this necropolis founded by the military authorities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is a special place. Not only by its size, hiding in a small area the enormity of human suffering and loyalty to the oath to the very end, but also by the fact that among those buried here are represented members of most nationalities of Central and Eastern Europe,’ emphasizes Mayor of Wadowice, Bartosz Kaliński.

The Wadowice cemetery is one of 41 war cemeteries in Lesser Poland included in the revitalization project. The project, called ‘Revitalization of selected war cemeteries of the World War I period located in Brzesko, Tarnów, Kraków, Wadowice and the Bochnia and Tarnów districts, as a heritage complex of international significance’, included a total of 41 war cemeteries in 13 municipalities. Most of them are located in the eastern part of Małopolska province, only the cemeteries in Kraków and Wadowice are located in the western part of the province.

The author and coordinator of the project was the Department of Revitalization of Kraków Monuments and National Heritage of the Malopolska Voivodeship Office. The final cost of the entire project amounted to nearly PLN 13 million (including more than 2 million committed by the municipalities in the area where some of the cemeteries are located), of which the costs covered by the project amounted to more than 10.6 million. Thanks to the support of the Marshal's Office of the Małopolska Region, more than PLN 7 million in EU funds were obtained from the Małopolska Regional Operational Program to finance the execution of the project.

The largest, most expensive and one of the most difficult to implement elements of the project was the recomposition and revitalization of the Military Cemetery in Wadowice, also known as the Cemetery of Nations. The cost of this part of the project was just over PLN 3 million. It included the restoration of the historic appearance of the military cemetery with elements of War Cemetery No. 473.