{"id":1996,"date":"2025-05-03T18:20:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T18:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/visi-stasti\/cesis-city-cemetery-or-german-cemetery\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T20:22:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T20:22:02","slug":"cesis-city-cemetery-or-german-cemetery","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/visi-stasti\/cesis-city-cemetery-or-german-cemetery\/","title":{"rendered":"Cesis City Cemetery or German Cemetery"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”Listen to the story!” color=”orange” align=”left” i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-solid fa-headphones-simple” css=”” add_icon=”true” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fcesustasti.lv%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F05%2FVacu-kapi-audio.mp3|”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”7\/12″]\t\t

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Walking through the ancient, tree-lined cemetery of Cesis, you are crossing more than two hundred and fifty years of history. The cemetery, often incorrectly referred to as the \u201cGerman Cemetery\u201d, was founded in 1773, when the Senate of the Russian Empire banned the burial of the dead in and near the town’s churches. At that time, the newly established cemetery, located outside the city on the Riga Road, was used for the burial of the victims of the C\u0113sis St. The cemetery was located outside the town of C\u0113sis. <\/p>\n

The cemetery expanded over time, and by the 19th century it was home to three different denominations – Lutherans, Orthodox and Jews. Each had its own compartment, creating a unique mosaic of cultural heritage. Particular highlights include the cemetery of the Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Cesis, consecrated in 1869, with its impressive 19th-century chapel. 80. was built in the 1880s by the C\u0113sis contractor Vilhelms Hope.<\/p>\n

Among the white birch trunks and shady maple branches there are culturally valuable tombstones, cast-iron and stone crosses, obelisks, columns and other monuments from the late 18th and the first half of the 19th century. Here, we can say that we are getting to know important people who have shaped the face of C\u0113sis. The oldest known tombstone is that of Johann Friedrich H\u00fchn, a merchant and town lord of Cesis who died in 1785 – the German words engraved in imported limestone tell the story of a man born in distant Kurzeme. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the cemetery was severely tested in the post-war years. The Soviet authorities closed it in 1959, and in 1963 the C\u0113sis District Executive Committee discussed the possibility of using the cemetery’s monuments to make new memorial markers or to build roads. Vija Caune, the chief architect of the C\u0113sis district, managed to convince the executive committee that the removal of the monuments could cause \u201ccomplications\u201d if relatives of those buried abroad became interested in the graves. A similar situation repeated itself in 1977, when it was decided to remove part of the cemetery and turn it into a square, but again the planned work was not carried out. <\/p>\n

A new phase in the history of the cemetery began in 1988, when Daumants Kalni\u0146\u0161 and Verners Rudz\u012btis published articles in which they highlighted the need for cleaning, research and restoration of the cemetery. The first clean-up events were organised and the monument to the Latvian Army General J\u0101nis Api\u0146\u0161 was restored. <\/p>\n

Today, the C\u0113sis City Cemetery is experiencing a new life. Since 2023, an inventory of the monuments has been completed, identifying the names of some 650 interred persons and revealing surprising stories about the city’s history. Here are the graves of Alberts Holanders, the founder of the B\u0113rzaine Gymnasium, the parents of composer Alfreds Kalnins, Ferdinands Biedenrots, the carpenter who made the altar retable of St John’s Church, Oskars J\u0113pe, the book publisher, and J\u0101nis Apinis, a general in the Latvian army. A history that was once almost lost is now being rediscovered. <\/p>\n

The materials used for the description are:
\n<\/em>Portal Cesis City Cemetery<\/a>
\nSarm\u012bte Feldmane, eDruva publication 16.08.2024.\u201cNovadnieks: Cesis City Cemetery, not German Cemetery<\/a>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t[\/vc_column][vc_column width=”5\/12″]\t\t

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The oldest monument in the cemetery is the tombstone of the town clerk Johann Friedrich Huhn, who died in 1785, on which an inscription is carved in German: \u201cHere rests in God’s peace the town clerk Johann Friedrich Huhn, born in Kurzeme, Saliena parsonage on 3 September 1723, died on 26 March 1785.\u201d A 10% drop of hydrochloric acid revealed that the oldest plaque was made of imported limestone, while the plaque of the son buried next to it was made of local dolomite.
\nIn 2023, the long-sought tomb of Albert Hollander (1796-1868), founder of the Berzaine Gymnasium, was found in the cemetery. A 19th-century photograph of the monument, given by Hollander’s great-great-granddaughter Gesine, helped the researchers, and a cross with an inscription was found on the ruined site. <\/p>\n

Facts<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • 1772: The Senate of the Russian Empire issues an order banning the burial of the dead in town churches and cemeteries.<\/li>\n
  • 1773: A parish cemetery is established in Cesis outside the town on Riga Road.<\/li>\n
  • 1785: Johann Friedrich Hoon, a town lord and merchant, is buried in the cemetery; his tombstone is the oldest surviving monument in the cemetery.<\/li>\n
  • 1869: The cemetery of the Orthodox parish of the Transfiguration of Christ in Cesis is consecrated.<\/li>\n
  • 1870: The Old Jewish Cemetery is established in the cemetery grounds.<\/li>\n
  • 1876: The Lutheran section of the cemetery is extended westwards.<\/li>\n
  • 1890: The New Jewish Cemetery is established in the cemetery grounds.<\/li>\n
  • 1907: Augusts Spro\u0123is, a stonemason, moves to C\u0113sis and makes a large number of black granite tombstones in his workshop at 52 R\u012bgas iela.<\/li>\n
  • 1919: The cemetery is the burial place of several Latvian Home Guard soldiers captured and killed by the Bolsheviks during the Battle of In\u010dukalns.<\/li>\n
  • 1925: General J\u0101nis Apinis of the Latvian Army is buried in the Orthodox burial vault.<\/li>\n
  • 1941: members of the C\u0113sis Jewish community are murdered in an extermination campaign; the Jewish section of the cemetery is no longer cared for.<\/li>\n
  • 1941-1944: About 400 soldiers of the Nazi German army are buried in the cemetery.<\/li>\n
  • 1944: the Soviet Union reoccupies Latvia, after which the German cultural heritage in the cemetery is gradually destroyed.<\/li>\n
  • 1959: the C\u0113sis Executive Committee closes the cemetery; it is vandalised for the next 40 years.<\/li>\n
  • 1963: The possibility of using the cemetery monuments for road construction is discussed, but Vija Caune, the chief architect of the Cesis district, prevents it.<\/li>\n
  • 1977: The Executive Committee of Cesis decides to liquidate 500 m\u00b2 of the cemetery, but the plan is not implemented.<\/li>\n
  • 1988: The first articles about cleaning up the cemetery are published and the first clean-ups are organised.<\/li>\n
  • 2017: exhumation and reburial of German soldiers buried in the cemetery.<\/li>\n
  • 2023: Inventory of the cemetery’s surviving monuments completed, identifying the names of some 650 interred persons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1619,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[204,336],"product_tag":[337],"class_list":{"0":"post-1996","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-cesis-house","7":"product_cat-monuments","8":"product_tag-cemetery","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"shipping-taxable","13":"product-type-simple"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/1996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=1996"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=1996"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cesustasti.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=1996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}