Lychakiv Cemetery

Lychakiv Cemetery is an ancient cemetery that gained the status of a national historical and cultural museum. Nowadays you can visit the Lychakiv cemetery for a small admission and even have an excursion on the grounds. The cemetery is located just outside the city center and you easily can walk there in about 20-30 minutes.

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History

The Lychakiv cemetery was built in 1787 when this part of Ukraine was under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The cemetery was built for the use of noble elites, upper, and middle-class people. The working class were buried at Yaniv cemetery.

Lychakiv cemetery become the main cemetery of the city in 1850, when it was expended with many new alleys built. The cemetery was used by all the Christian groups: Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestants. Walking around the oldest part of the cemetery you can see beautiful sculptures on the graves of important members of the church.

Unfortunately, after WWII the cemetery was unattended and devastated. Many of the sculptures were ruined beyond repair during this period. However 30 years later, in 1975, the cemetery was declared a National Monument and restoration work began.

Since then the Lychakiv cemetery was rebuilt and refurbished. The cemetery has become one of the top tourist attractions in Lviv and is compared to the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris (the largest cemetery in Paris).

Read more: Things To Do In Lviv, Ukraine

What To Expect From Lychakiv Cemetery In Lviv?

Lychakiv cemetery is quite big and you would need at minimum an hour to explore it. There are many alleys that go around and between the old graves. Each gravestone and sculpture is unique and beautiful. There are many graves that are heart-breaking and at the same time fantastically beautiful. Such a weird combination of emotions that can affect you at this place. It is a sad place, especially when you see the graves of kids or read the memorial plaque, at the same time you are enjoying the calmest and quietest walk ever and the beauty of the grave’s sculptures.

The Lychakiv cemetery has many graves of important Ukrainians and Poles but there is even the grave of one American as well. Edmund Pike Graves was an American aviator, Royal Flying Corps, and Polish Air Force officer who served as an instructor and fighter during World War I. Among buried Ukrainians there are famous composers, poets, painters, writers, and others.

Price: adults – 40 UAH ($1.6), children – 30 UAH ($1.2);

Hours: daily from 9 AM to 5 PM;

Location: Mechnykova St, 33, Lviv, L’vivs’ka oblast, 79000;