I found lots of very old gravestones. Very old and very artistic at the same time. Compared to contemporary tombstones, they could be easily qualified as works of art. Some of them dated even back to the 19th century. Time has not spared them of course. You could only wonder why nobody bothered to renovate them. At some point I realized that they do not only represent artistic value, but also historical. It was when I saw inscriptures on one of the monuments saying that: here lies the cashier of D.Ż.W.W., below another name and annotaion the judge of the Highest Court in Warsaw in the years ..., the judge's wife, names, precised dates of birth and death. Who could tell today what the abreviation D.Ż.W.W. stands for? It must have been obvious at the beginning of the 20th century, but now is there anybody who remembers? Who cares?
Next to some gravestones, you could see sculptures. Some of the size of a human being representing Christ, but you could not compare it with any work of art you've learned about from books or classes in the history of art. Some were small sculptures of angels just as the children they guarded. There were stone crosses with elaborate flower shapes where the rectors of the local parish were buried. There was even a stone trunk with all branches cut and a modest gravestone saying The ... Family, everything that remained from a possibly large family gravestone. As if gradually someone cut out the branches one by one.
When you entered the cemetery both on the left and right hand side you could see the gravestones of the soldiers who died in the area in 1939. What a strange image to see a rosary with faded red beads hanging on the arm of one of the stone crosses or a small silver pendant in the shape of an angel lying on another just as if somebody had been there praying just a moment ago. It made a lasting impression on me. It made my day. It actually inspired me to document this unprecedented marriage of history and art as long as it still exists. It's hard to find such places in Poland today. There is Powązki Cementary in Warsaw, but who cares about the others?
Below you can see part of the digital documentation of the monuments at Brwinow cemetery. If only I could help to preserve them, I would like to do it. It's no longer the matter of private property, these monuments are part of cultural and historical heritage. They should be preserved and protected by public or private institutions. Soon it can be too late.