Former Gorizia's Cemetery

The former Goriška region cemetery was solemnly opened on 1 September in 1880 and it replaced the cemetery that had stood on the site of the present memorial park in Gorizia along the promenade since 1827. The new cemetery measured 299 x 200 metres and its monumental entrance was designed by Leopoldo de Claricini, an architect from the Goriška region. After entering the cemetery, it was possible to reach the classicist cemetery chapel along the central axis, whereas the cemetery itself was divided into several parts and categories. In its length it extended up to the present theatre. In the period from the opening until 1916, when the cemetery was destroyed by World War I, around 28,000 people were buried. Some of them were subsequently moved to the new location by Vrtojba field, whereas many of them remained and their remains were still regularly excavated while new buildings were built. Today, three tombstones between the street and the bus station remind us of the former cemetery and numerous artists have paid tribute to it with their public monuments.