The Raadi cemetery, ( et, Raadi kalmistu) is the oldest and largest burial ground in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast o ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

, dating back to 1773. Many prominent historical figures are buried there. It is also the largest

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

cemetery in Estonia after the destruction of

Kopli cemetery The Kopli cemetery (german: Friedhof von Ziegelskoppel or ; et, Kopli kalmistu) was Estonia's largest Lutheran Baltic German cemetery, located in the suburb of Kopli in Tallinn. It contained thousands of graves of prominent citizens of Tallin ...

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

. Until 1841, it was the only cemetery in the town. The cemetery currently includes several smaller graveyard sections, the oldest of which date back to 1773. Telleri kabel

Origins, 1771–1773

Between 1771 and 1772, Russian empress Catherine the Great, issued an

edict An edict is a decree or announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism, but it can be under any official authority. Synonyms include "dictum" and "pronouncement". ''Edict'' derives from the Latin edictum. Notable edicts * Telepinu Pr ...

which decreed that from that point on no-one who died (regardless of their social standing or class origins) was to be buried in a church

crypt A crypt (from Latin '' crypta'' " vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a ...

churchyard In Christian countries a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster-Scots, this can al ...

; all burials were to take place in the new cemeteries to be built throughout the entire Russian empire, which were to be located outside town boundaries. These measures were intended to overcome the congestion of urban church crypts and graveyards, and were prompted by a number of outbreaks of highly contagious diseases linked to inadequate burial practices in urban areas, especially the

black plague The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

which had led to the Plague Riot in Moscow in 1771. The burial ground was officially opened on 5 November 1773 as the St. John's (town) parish cemetery. It also served as the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

's burial ground. The St. Mary's (country) parish and

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most C ...

Dormition The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches (except the East Syriac churches). It celebrates the "falling asleep" (death) of Mary the ''Theotokos'' ("Mother of ...

congregation cemeteries were established north-west of the St. John's in the same year. It served as the only cemetery in the town until 1841.

Decline in burials, 1939–1944

Burials at the cemetery were drastically reduced after the transfer of Baltic German population over to western

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

in late 1939. Burials at the cemetery continued on a much smaller scale until 1944, principally among those Baltic Germans who had refused Hitler's call to leave the region.

Present state

By the beginning of the 21st century, the expansion of the town has passed beyond the borders of the cemetery and alternative burial grounds are established elsewhere in the town. A

Pseudotsuga ''Pseudotsuga'' is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Common names for species in the genus include Douglas fir, Douglas-fir, Douglas tree, Oregon pine and Bigcone spruce. ''Pseudotsuga menzie ...

parkway located at the cemetery is under protection.

Notable interments

* Franz Ulrich Theodor Aepinus (1724–1802), physicist * Betti Alver (1906–1989), poet * Paul Ariste (1905–1990), linguist * Kalev Arro (1915–1974), Forest Brother partisan * Lauri Aus (1970–2003), cyclist *

Karl Ernst von Baer Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer Edler von Huthorn ( – ) was a Baltic German scientist and explorer. Baer was a naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, and is considered a, or the, founding father of embryology. He was a ...

(1792–1876), biologist * Friedrich Bidder (1810–1894), physiologist * Alexander Bunge (1803–1890), botanist *

Karl Ernst Claus Karl Ernst Claus (also Karl Klaus or Carl Claus, russian: Карл Ка́рлович Кла́ус, 22 January 1796 – 24 March 1864) was a German-Russian chemist and naturalist of Baltic German origin. Claus was a professor at Kazan State Un ...

(1796–1864), chemist and naturalist * Karl Gottfried Konstantin Dehio (1851–1927), internist *

Jaan Eilart Jaan Eilart (24 June 1933 – 18 May 2006) was an Estonian phytogeographer, landscape ecologist, cultural historian and conservationist. Eilart was born in Pala, Kirna Parish, Järva County. In 1957 he started teaching conservation as a s ...

(1933–2006), phytogeographer and conservationist * Friedrich Robert Faehlmann (1798–1850), philologist * Anna Haava (1864–1957), poet and translator * Miina Härma (1864–1941), composer * Gregor von Helmersen (1803–1885), geologist * Samuel Gottlieb Rudolph Henzi (1794–1829), orientalist and theologist * Johann Voldemar Jannsen (1819–1890), journalist and poet * Harald Keres (1912–2010), physicist *

Amalie Konsa Amalie Konsa (also known as Brigitta; 10 March 1873 – 19 July 1949), was an Estonian stage and actress and singer usually based in Tartu. She was known as the "grandmother of the Estonian theatre" Life Konsa was born Amalie-Luise Konts in Ra ...

(1873–1949), actress * Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803–1882), writer * Olevi Kull (1955–2007), ecologist * Eerik Kumari (1912–1984), naturalist and conservationist *

Julius Kuperjanov Julius Kuperjanov VR I/2, VR II/2 and VR II/3 ( – 2 February 1919) was an Estonian military officer who was well-known in Estonia for being one of the Liberators of Tartu during the War of Independence and commander of the Tartumaa Partisan ...

(1894–1919), military commander *

Raine Loo Raine Loo (28 March 1945 – 16 May 2020) was an Estonian stage, television and film actress. Early life and education Raine Loo was born in the former Taevere Parish in Viljandi County, which is now part of Põhja-Sakala Parish. She attended No. ...

(1945–2020), actress * Oskar Loorits (1900–1961), folklorist * Juri Lotman (1922–1993), semiotician and culturologist *

Juhan Luiga Juhan Luiga (31 March 1873 – 19 October 1927) was an Estonian psychiatrist, physician, author, publicist, and politician. He was a member of I Riigikogu. Career Juhan Luiga was born in Ropka in 1873. He attended primary and secondary schools ...

(1873–1927), psychiatrist, physician, author, publicist and politician *

Leonhard Merzin Leonhard Merzin (10 February 1934 in Aruküla, Kudina Parish (now Maardla, Mustvee Parish) – 2 January 1990 in Tartu) was an Estonian theatre and film actor, one of the Estonian actors active in the Soviet Union and abroad. He played in mo ...

(1934–1990), actor * Otto Wilhelm Masing (1763–1832), writer *

Uku Masing Uku Masing (born Hugo Albert Masing, 11 August 1909 – 25 April 1985) was an Estonian philosopher. He was a significant figure in Estonian religious philosophy. Masing also wrote poetry, mostly on religious issues. Masing authored one novel, ''R ...

(1909–1985), philosopher and folklorist *

Viktor Masing Viktor Masing (11 April 1925, Tartu – 18 March 2001) was an Estonian botanist and ecologist. He was born in Tartu. He became a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences Founded in 1938, the Estonian Academy of Sciences ( et, Eesti Tead ...

(1925–2001), ecologist * Zara Mints (1927–1990), literary scientist *

Friedrich Parrot Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm Parrot (14 October 1791) was a Baltic German naturalist, explorer, and mountaineer, who lived and worked in Dorpat (today Tartu, Estonia) in what was then the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. A pion ...

(1791–1841), naturalist and traveller *

Ludvig Puusepp Ludvig Puusepp (also Pussep or Pousep, rus. Людвиг Мартынович Пуссеп; in Kyiv – 19 October 1942 in Tartu) was an Estonian surgeon and researcher and the world's first professor of neurosurgery. Early life Ludvig Puusep ...

(1875–1942), surgeon *

Edmund Russow Edmund August Friedrich Russow (russian: Эдму́нд Фридрихович Ру́ссов, translit=Èdmúnd Fridrichovič Rússov; – ) was a Baltic German biologist. Academic career Son of a military engineer, Edmund Russow stud ...

(1841–1897), biologist * August Sabbe (1909–1978), Forest Brother *

Hermann Guido von Samson-Himmelstjerna Hermann Guido von Samson-Himmelstjerna; name sometimes given as Guido Samson von Himmelstiern (, Korast – , Dorpat) was a Baltic German physician and professor of ''Staatsarzneikunde'' (state pharmacopoeia). From 1826 he studied medicin ...

(1809–1868), physician * Carl Schmidt (1822–1894), chemist * Gustav Teichmüller (1832–1888), philosopher * Hugo Treffner (1845–1912), pedagogue * Mihkel Veske (1843–1890), poet and linguist

References

External links