50th annual fundraiser to preserve Warsaw's historic Stare Powązki cemetery

"We’ve collected around 255,000 zloty this year, with the biggest amount raised on the first day of the collection (November 1) — 150,000 zloty," Marcin Święcicki, president of the Jerzy Waldorff Social Committee for the Protection of Warsaw’s Old Powązki Cemetery, told tvnwarszawa.pl.

He clarified that this figure represents only what was collected on-site. The total will grow, as online donations through Siepomaga.pl will continue through the end of November, and additional contributions may come from individual donors.

This year’s amount already surpasses last year’s total of 220,000 zloty, though it falls short of the 2019 record of 280,000 zloty collected just before the pandemic.

Święcicki announced that the funds raised this year will go toward the restoration of nine historic tombstones, including those of the family of composer Stanisław Moniuszko, which are around 150 years old. Additionally, one of the chapels belonging to the Dmuszewski and Wysiekierski families, located in an older section of the cemetery, will undergo repairs. Around 20 tombstones in the Avenue of the Meritorious will also receive much-needed care and preservation.

Over the past 50 years, the committee has overseen conservation work on approximately 1,700 graves at the historic Stare Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. Some of the tombs and chapels have been restored multiple times to preserve their condition. In the past decade alone, 110 graves in the Avenue of the Meritorious, 84 graves along the Avenue of the Catacombs, 11 graves of Fryderyk Chopin’s family members, and the tombs of pre-war Polish parliamentary leaders have all been carefully restored.

The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (MKiDN) emphasizes that Stare Powązki is one of Poland's oldest and most significant cemeteries. Established on land donated by the Szymanowski family, it was developed as a response to the closure of traditional urban burial grounds near churches and hospitals. "Since the 19th century, it has become the final resting place of Warsaw’s elite, including artists, writers, military leaders, and politicians. During the era of the Partitions [Ed.: The Partitions of Poland], it served as a National Pantheon," the ministry noted.

In 1925, the Avenue of the Meritorious was created along the southern wall of the catacombs. The first grave to be placed there was that of Władysław Reymont, the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Peasants. Notable figures resting in the Avenue include Stefan Starzyński, the heroic pre-war mayor of Warsaw who defended the city during the September 1939 siege and was later executed by the Nazis. It also holds symbolic graves for Poland's former president Ignacy Mościcki and leaders of the Polish Underground State, as well as the graves of famed aviators Franciszek Żwirko and Stanisław Wigura. Other prominent figures include artists, theater and film luminaries, and poets such as Stefan Jaracz, Józef Węgrzyn, Jadwiga Smosarska, Kalina Jędrusik, Józef Elsner, Stanisław Moniuszko, Jan Kiepura, Leopold Staff, and Bolesław Leśmian.

After World War II, many of Stare Powązki’s monuments fell into disrepair. Professor Stanisław Lorenz, then director of the National Museum in Warsaw and an art historian, attempted to alert the Ministry of Culture and Art to the cemetery’s deteriorating condition. Having received no response, he reached out to music critic Jerzy Waldorff, urging him to organize a grassroots committee to save the cemetery. This call led to the founding of the committee, which has since played a vital role in preserving this historic site.