Antakalnis Cemetery (
Lithuanian: Antakalnio kapinės,
Polish: Cmentarz na Antokolu,
Belarusian: Антокальскія могілкі), sometimes referred as Antakalnis Military Cemetery, is an active cemetery in the
Antakalnis district of
Vilnius,
Lithuania. It was established in 1809.
Soldier burials
12 of the 14 victims of the Soviet attacks during the
January Events of 1991 as well as the
Medininkai Massacre are buried here. Other graves include those of Polish soldiers who perished in 1919–1920; a memorial of Lithuanian as well as German and Russian soldiers fallen in
World War I; and
Red Army soldiers of
World War II (constructed in 1951, rebuilt 1976–1984). The monument to Soviet soldiers was taken apart and transported to storage in December 2022 due to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine.[1]
In 2003, more than 3,000 French and other soldiers of the
Grande Armée of
Napoleon I who took part in the 1812
invasion of Russia were reburied at the cemetery, after their bodies were excavated some two years prior from French-dug trenches which were used by the victorious Russians as mass graves due to the frozen state of the ground; French and Lithuanian diplomats participated in the interment ceremony.[2] The remains of 18 more soldiers from the army who were dumped into a different area were reburied in November 2010.[3]